Infrastructural Blunders

There are many structures in our country, which, perhaps, were erected only to please some architect’s brain shitt, to fill some politician’s already flooded pocket, or to show a fake superiority. There was no foresightedness, and for this the citizens need to suffer.

A place like Bangalore which has always been ridiculed for its lack of infrastructure, cannot afford such infrastructural blunders. But there are two structures in the city, which instead of the reducing, has increased the burden of its citizen. These structures are such blunders that I  wonder what was going through the minds of the designers, architects, town planners, approvers, financiers and many others who were involved in finalising the project for construction. Were they just experimenting as to how the structure would look like, instead of planning as to how the structure will support the growing population of the city?

K R Puram Hanging Bridge:

Sourced from Internet

It was inaugurated in 2003 by then PM Mr. Vajpayee. It is on the Old Madras Road, serves the purpose of Railway Crossing with K R Puram Railway Station and Ring Road crossing under it. Must say a brilliant architecture, it was declared Most Outstanding National Bridge by the Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers. Doesn’t it feel nice, if architectures of your city are admired? No, in this case it doesn’t.

Source - Google Earth

I am not sure why a flyover, which is just a railway crossing, needs such a big structure. The bridge today is a bottleneck. It has consumed so much of space on either side that for regular commuters on the ring road and those going towards Whitefield, it’s a perennial headache. With the railway line passing under the bridge, the road becomes very narrow and adding to the woes of the commuters there is a bus stop right under the bridge. It is difficult to drive your vehicle, and it is further more difficult for the people walking towards the KR Puram Station to cross the road. You cannot even construct a footbridge because of the large structure going right above your head. That is not all, I am sure the second phase of metro, which is planned on the same route will also face multiple issues in terms of availability of space and huge add up to the cost. It will add to the problems of the commuters as well when the metro work will start. This is not all, even for the commuters on the Old Madras Road who take the bridge, there is no respite either, the approach to this bridge becomes so congested that the vehicles crawl.

Within 10 years of its opening, the purpose of the bridge has failed big time. The problem is big and going forward the situation is going to deteriorate. The authorities are certainly aware of this but, I assume, even they cannot do anything, because there is no place for them to play with.

Richmond Circle Flyover:

Source - Google Earth

Another example of a bad planning. Can you believe, a flyover, which is normally constructed to make roads signal free was housing a signal itself a few years back? After a lot of planning and once the Airport was shifted, the signal was removed, but still those coming from Lifestyle direction on Richmond Road and going towards Double Road, they try to avoid the flyover, because of both way traffic towards the Double Road the flyover becomes very narrow. To add to this the flyover has not reduced the traffic congestion underneath as well. 

In a country where resources are very limited, are we in a position to experiment with such huge investments and more than that with our own reputation? Furthermore, a poor town planning is certainly a big dent to the reputation of the country in front of international visitors.

Shouldn’t we question the Government about the planning they did while approving these projects? The Government is answerable to every penny they misuse.

Do share your views and highlight any other structure, which you think was poorly or, perhaps, not planned at all.