Have all the guidelines and have documented them - however is this an abstract excercise - it can be quite time consuming to do something like this and may not be worth it if it is not going anywhere

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In my opinion, this is not about guidelines but rather application of them to solve a problem. I dont see anything abstract. Silkboard jn has always been a major jn in the IT corridor and will continue to be (Praja has people with handles named after this famous jn). There needs to be allowances for dedicated bus lanes and that poses a challenge when personal vehicles are clogging the jn. We cannot avoid dedicated bus lanes at this place at the same time they need to pull over to take people without abruptly cutting traffic and causing chaos. 

I feel there need to be bus stops near the jn on the ring road to collect people from HSR, BTM, JPN and beyond and these should be connected to bus stops on the Big10 route along hosur road heading towards EC and the city. First step is to mark these out. And indicate tunnels/walkways that will link these bus stops across each other. The bus stops shouldnt be too close to the jn so they end up blocking the jn at the same time need to be staggered to ensure hundreds of people during peak hour are not piling on a single 10 by 10 shelter.

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 In my opinion this junction may see potential bottlenecks for sure if the authorities have not done half homework atleast.  As a lot of layouts have been formed near and after electronics city, it will be a matter of time (at the max 5 years) when people will start inhabiting these areas.

As you approach the silkboard junction from madivala towards hosur road after the police station and wipro office building there seems to be a lot of land available to the left side which touches ring road teachers colony side. Am not sure if it belongs to the government or not and  if it does , it can me made use of.

One more question: Are there any plans to make the stretch from madivala till checkpost 2 way as i feel that may be required.

On the pedestrian front also, long term planning and execution is very much essential and we cannot think of something concrete unless we have some data on the current plans and future plans for transportation.

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IDS,

My mistake. By abstract, I was intending is this just an informal excercise for ourselves or is this something solid we want to do (link up with ABIDE for example)

Of course junction design is very important and yes it is the application of guidelines.  If we want to do a good job its a time consuming thing - just wanted to make sure our time is worth it

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BMTC have requested City Connect/ Janaagraha to redesign this junction and some plans have been made. I have talked to concerned people at Janaagraha and they are willing to discuss with praja.

I have also talked to Mr. Pranav & Mr. Rithesh.

Tentatively a meeting is being thought of on Saturday, 1st Aug.

Those interested to join may pl. indicate their willingness.

K.V.Pathy

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There is a bus bay already done up for busses coming from HSR/Hosur rd towards BTM..

The problem is no busses use it..and the reason being two electric poles which have not been shifted!

These electirc poles need to moved immediately so that busses can use the bay and not obstruct other traffic!

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Valid points and a good idea Srivathsa.  At this point, this is not going to be an easy task since several of the major infrastructures (BETL, Signal Free ORR) etc. are going to come in place soon and are already planned.  Before Praja members actively get involved, we should ask ourselves what the ROI is, As Suhas pointed out, if this is an academic exercise, its not worth it.  If we have buy in from the myriad agencies involved (BDA, BBMO etc.) that the suggestions/recommendations will be used as solid input for an actual plan then I am very interested.

Having BBMP, BDA etc. involved also helps in getting much needed actual data and projections which will be important elements in a plan.

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There should have been a parellel road to Hosur road, then the elevated highway could itself have been avoided, and there could be less traffic at Silk Board junction.  There should also be more roads connecting the Ring road to the centre of the city. In future more roads connecting Ring Road to Peripheral Ring road are needed, i feel very few roads are leaving the Ring Road now, between Hebbal and Silkboard through Marthahalli.

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@ Abidpqa: I had put down the same point about having some sort parallel road to hosur road to mitigate the traffic load  but took it off as i thought it would not be relevant to the topic.

If anyone has got some information on what the authorities have planned to do about this junction please share so that we can participate. A phsyical participation wouldnot be possible as i am not in India and will not be back for quite some time.

This silkboard junction is very near to my place and i have spent all my life around 30+ years there.

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With all due respect Suhas, Sanjay, why should we not be interested in the exercise even if academic. Thats the Praja fun, isn't it - learn and share. We shouldn't be hung up on whether the suggestions will be accepted or not. If we talk sense, it will get picked up, let us have that faith. There are 100s of people queued near BDA/BBMP offices and officers to give inputs and suggestions (just recall the Abide consultation that some of us recently attended) - how do you expect anyone to give guarantees on picking some ideas and leaving others. Strictly speaking, they should hire a professional firm to design this, and we should be engaged only from the perspective of 1) giving people's requirements and 2) auditing the project.

But anyway. Lets just propagate the goodness. Things will find a way of reaching right people, as has been the case a few times already. Can't do a detailed design, thats a lot more work, but lets pour out whatever we can.

Getting back, first and foremost, its important to get the requirements. As Sanjay said above, would be nicer to know the other plans in store for this area. When is the BRT/dedicated lane happening on ORR. Will there be bus lanes on NH7 after BETL opens? Let us assume that bothe are going to happen soon.

Usage Scenarios

So then, what will this area grow to be? From what we know, here are the usage scenarios:

• Assuming that a Rapid Bus service from E-city side will stop or terminate at Silk Board junction
  • Priority movement of Bus coming from E-City going towards Madivala
  • Priority movement of buses coming from CBD onto BETL or Hosur Road
  • Movement of pedestrians to ORR East, and ORR West bus stops from a Bus stop west of Hosur Road
  • Movement of pedestrians from ORR East and ORR West to a bus stop situated east of Hosur Road
  • Place for access/interchange to last mile transport options like Autorickshaw or parked bikes/cycles (cars, if there is space)
• Quick distribution of traffic coming in from BETL ramps to North, East and West directions

Reverse of above, in the morning. Essentially, plan a quick merge to ensure that the queue for BETL ramps doesn't cause any blockage for cross traffic on ORR Madivala cross traffic.

Not done yet, its a little more complicated, why? Because, you have the option of taking the toll road (BETL), and free road (NH7) towards E-City. This would mean:

• Ensure cross-weave of traffic coming from ORR/Madivala and distributing between NH7-free and NH7-tolled (BETL) doesn't create big queue. Basically, need planned merge and separation.
• Same for the reverse direction - merge/demerge for traffic coming from E-City side on two different roads (NH7 free and tolled).

Let me pause to think more on requirements.

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We might not be able to come out with a design.  But we can certainly ensure that things are thought through a bit better keeping in mind the requirements of all road users and not just cars - which is typically what happens.

This junction will need redesign sooner rather than later, given all the flyover construction happening on the roads leading to it.  Let's put our requirements down and I think there is a good chance it will land into the right hands. 

We need to consider

a. Public transport requirements - bus lane, bus stops - private and BMTC, interchange facilities, auto stands

b. Pedestrian requirements - pavements, safe crossings

c. Private transport requirements - streamlined vehicular flow, lane markings, islands, etc

d. Drainage - this place is famous for its lakes after rains

e. Cycle lanes if possible.  I remember someone mentioning that they were planning a cycle lane along the entire stretch from E-City to Vellara Junction - I forget who it was.

Srivathsa

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@SB - I do not quite agree with you SB.  If we do stuff in our silo without any attempts at engaging with the appropriate government departments, then it becomes a thought experiment.  Anyway, that being said, I am definitely interested in joining the party if folks are moving ahead with a hypothetical design. Always fun to wrestle with a problem like this and gain more understanding.

Pathy above mentioned something with Janaagraha and City Connect.  That sounds slightly more promising. Maybe at some point, some interaction with Prof. Ashwin Mahesh will also be useful?

Let me think more about this and come up with some ideas.

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"Pathy above mentioned something with Janaagraha and City Connect.  That sounds slightly more promising. Maybe at some point, s"ome interaction with Prof. Ashwin Mahesh will also be useful?

Precisely the reason why this thread popped up :). 

Srivathsa

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@SB, do not agree with you. My reluctance is not philosophical, its  from pragmatic considerations. I do buy in your goodness argument. But if we want to differentiate form the 'N' others who suggest and make an impact, then our work better have depth to it.  I do have a problem with the "quality " of our "suggestions" if this is one more thing among the zillion others that we look at.  If only each of us took one item and beat it to death, we can start making serious impact on whatever that one item we choose to take up. If only .....

Anyways, since there is some formality to it and I live right by this junction, I am absolutely game.  BTW, I do have intersection guidelines (vehicular part) covered in the documentation I am making. It would be good if you guys can have a look at it and make it the starting point. But given that is unlikely  you'll will ever read :), I will push it down your throats when we meet !!

Srivathsa, do go ahead and the immediate two steps

- Setup a meeting with City connect

- Obtain and publish whatever plans are available right now/ especially on the BETL

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There is already an existing flyover along Hosur rd & it is sufficient to handle through traffic along the road (3 lanes each way, hence it has 6-lanes).

The announcement was to have an uniterrupted thoroughfare along ORR from Silkboard to Hebbal - not including Silkboard or Hebbal. Thus, signals at these nodes along ORR will probably continue to remain as they are.

Hence, we only need to concentrate on improvements for pedestrian amenities & bus stops.

Along Hosur road, buses would have to stay at-grade (not use the flyover) & be allowed to flow straight so as to enable bus stops closest possible to the junction signal lights.

Two pedestrian under or overpasses would be needed across ORR at the two signals (one on BTM side & the other on HSR side).  Pedestrian underpasses across Hosur rd may not be needed since there would only be right turning traffic, regulated by signals (bulk of the traffic flowing past the junction along Hosur rd will take the flyover).

Based on this, I think plans can be drawn for bus bays & pedestrian facilities.

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