For the human race, massive urbanisation has been one of the biggest phenomena for the 21^st century. Today, 55 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This percentage is expected to climb to 68 per cent by 2050. Bengalureans have experienced this phenomenon first-hand over the years. As the city has grown and opportunities have multiplied, we’ve seen our city’s population density jump 47 per cent in just ten years. While this growth has brought some huge benefits, there have been some obvious pitfalls- increasing Bengaluru traffic being one of them,

As most of us know, traffic in the city is becoming increasingly unmanageable. The stop and go traffic and traffic snarls also lead to an increase in air and noise pollution, bringing with it a host of health issues. Travelling from one point to the other during peak hours is a real nightmare. There is a need to take some drastic steps to alleviate the situation.

Given the gravity of the situation, there needs to be a multi-pronged approach to tackle the issue at hand. There need to be multiple transport options that complement each other and tied together to enable seamless intra-city travel. And the proposed elevated corridor is one such effective way to tackle the issue.

Before we jump to completely write-off the idea of the elevated corridor based on magnified emotions, here are a few things that we need to consider:

The price of urbanisation- Increasing Bengaluru traffic

Whether we like it or not, there is a certain price that one needs to pay for urbanisation. As a very concept, cities are highly unnatural. Nature never intended for such huge human populations to be located in such congested areas. However, if urbanisation is our chosen path for growth, then we need to be willing to pay the price.

This is not to say that we should go about destroying any sense of environmental balance. The need for development needs to be balanced with the need to protect the environment. For any project as massive as the elevated corridor, we need to take as much effort as possible to minimise its impact. For example, the cutting of trees is an important issue and we need to tackle it. We can offset the damage caused by planting new trees and by replanting displaced trees nearby. However, completely shutting down the project could prove to be extremely short-sighted.

Cities need roads

People need to travel within the city for work or for recreation or simply to go about their lives. Given the large population, we cannot rely on a single mode of transport. We need a network of various modes of transport including the metro, suburban rail, city buses, private road transport. While we certainly need to encourage an effective suburban rail system, it is not a substitute for good roads. Any major city in the world has a good network of roads to support the volume of traffic. There needs to be a certain number of roads of a certain length, width and quality in order for a city to function effectively. And Bengaluru is no exception.

Retrofitting infrastructure is challenging

In an ideal world, a city needs to be planned right from the beginning to accommodate the expected population with a road network that supports it. In reality though, most cities today are experiencing growth that is well beyond what they had anticipated. In such a situation, there is a need to retrofit roads into the city. This means that you either widen existing roads or build elevated roads. Widening roads is simply impossible in several areas because it would mean displacing several thousands of people and affecting livelihoods. In such a situation, an elevated corridor is the right solution.

India has one of the lowest car densities in the world. Whether we like it or not, this number is bound to go up over the next few years. We need to prepare for this growth with a good network of roads.

Instead of a blanket protest against the elevated corridor, it might be better to come together and think of viable solutions to address the issue of trees being cut, concerns around cost etc. There has to be a middle path. No elevated corridor is not a viable option if we want to see our beloved city sustain over the next several years.