Bangalore will soon have another "Ring Road" that will run concentric to the current Outer Ring Road(ORR). One just hopes that it is not designed like the ORR with a hundred traffic lights, speed-breakers, animal crossings, pedestrian crossings, businesses, bus stands and anything else you can think of that should not be allowed on a road that is meant to connect you to different parts of the city and be able to quickly get you around.
Sometimes, I wonder what our planners do when they "collaborate" with parties in "developed countries" like the USA.. Many of these people have visited countries like the US where it is not too hard to see common sense at it's best in terms of public infra design. These days, we do not even have to physically go to countries like the USA to see how roads are designed, you can just "fly-to" any place you want with Google Earth, "land" there and see what it looks like.
I'm praying that our city designers and planners simply copy what the US has been able to achieve and set as standards for highway/road design to facilitate high speed traffic that will connect large distances. I'd like to see a beautiful 8 lane highway with "on-ramps" and "off-ramps" that will allow you to merge in or fall out into towns and civilization around the road. I'm praying that there are no speed breakers, no pedestrian crossings, no signlas and the like on this road. Those of us who have been outside of India will know exactly what I'm talking about. It's not that difficult considering that public money is wasted all over the place and a big chunk of it is sitting as black money in the hands of our so called administrators.
Off course parallely, we need to educate drivers here what "lanes" are for and how they are used. I remember, I knew nothing about lanes until I went abroad the first time. As a matter of fact, I would drive my two wheeler on the "center line" (as I thought of it)when possible!! Reason?? No one ever taught me. No traffic school, no instructions. Just learnt on my own and guessed the rules. Dangerous? YES!!
Coming back to the PRR, why don't we just outsource these projects to infrastructure builders who will bring international best practices to the fore and give us a decent product that is truly ready for the next generation. China is a good example of transformation. "You have to see it to believe it", I've been told.
There are organizations like Janaagraha that are trying to get citizens involved in running the city as well as participate in the improvements instead of just cribbing about it (like I'm doing here). I'm game.
Not sure where to start though.. Guru, swalpa adjust madi, we are like this only.
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