traffic

The Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has received a high rating in a survey carried out by the Airport Councils International (ACI), an international association of the world's airports. On a scale of five, BIA has received a score of 4.2 in the first quarter of 2010 alone.The 24/7 Airport Operations Control Center plays a crucial role in coordinating between various departments to ensure smooth operations. Pic courtesy: BIAL The survey is carried out by speaking to passengers every month of the year.Bengaluru International Airport Limited's (BIAL) Director (Operations) Hari Marar says that airports generally score around 3.5 in their first…

Schools have reopened this week, just yet another excuse for jams. This jam on Harlur Road was nearly impossible to clear for a while, because vehicles in one direction clogged the road. An autorikshaw trying to turn back pushed a bike into the ditch. There was no space for the vehicles in the opposite direction coming in from Sarjapur Road to move on. A gridlock. Similar situation on Sarjapur Road... An all too common occurrence. Small roads, small jams; Bigroads, bigger jams. ⊕

The next time you're on the road at peak traffic time observe this. There'll be a wannabe Michael Schumacher who'll take off like a rocket at the signal, and you'll meet up with him at the next signal. You'll most likely meet up with him at every signal over the next 10 km. Why does this happen, even though he's driving faster than you? This is because of the 'Schumi-Bang effect', a scientific phenomenon caused by the interaction between Schumi's vehicle and Bangalore's roads. Here's the explanation. When traffic signals are close to each other, your average speed depends on…

In 1978, as the city of Seoul in South Korea 'developed', a 6 km. long river called the Cheonggyecheon was covered up. An 8-lane street was built over it, and an elevated expressway built over the street. The road was called Cheonggye Road, in memory of the late river.In 2005 the elevated expressway and the road were broken up and the river restored. It took two  years and the equivalent of Rs. 4000 crore for the restoration. 2002 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river in its avatar as a road. Pic source: G V Dasarathi. 2005 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river after its…

During commute time in Bangalore when people are traveling to their offices, how many people do you see:1.    In a car?2.    On a motor bike?3.    In a bus?Answer : 1 in a car, 1 on a bike, 75 in a bus.Here’s a small transportation engineering exercise.If you count the number of vehicles on the flyover in the picture below, you’ll find that they add up to 150. Assuming the people in these vehicles are all going to or from work, each of the vehicles is carrying 1 person.That means there are 150 people between the two red lines. Pic source:…

I've seen them at least in a couple of junctions. One at the Wind Tunnel road junction on Old Airport Road and, the other at the Intel junction on Outer Ring road. Small construction cones neatly lined up along one-car width from the meridian, indicating that if people should turn right, they ought to come in there. How do they enforce this? At Wind Tunnel road junction, they simply line the cones along the lane and then continue them all the way to the opposite side meridian. Something like this: Brilliant idea! Considering that just drawing the line and saying…

Is it difficult for citizens who are so articulate, so cultured and so well informed on conditions abroad to help evolve a traffic flow system and ensure the woes of commuters? The solution could be planned in several layers.Top on the list is synchoronised signal lights, adjusted to a moderate speed level. Moderate, because all kinds of vehicles ply on our roads and some of them may not touch the speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour.Heavy vehicles, cargo laden trucks and the like must be barred entry in arterial roads. If this is not possible, they must be allowed…

Five hours in the car. Five hours without food, water. Five hours of incessant horns, weak phone signals, frustrated commuters, wailing ambulances, and broken down trucks. And if you look out of your car window to see if the traffic inches forward, you are most likely to spot several posters with JDS leaders smiling(smirking?) at you. For the JDS Rally, it was a huge success. It showed its iron fist and strangled Bangalore. I happen to live in north Bangalore. For years I gloated over the fact that I'm far from the madding crowd who suffer traffic jams in BTM, Koramangala or Indiranagar. But in…

"If I were pregnant, I'd surely have a miscarriage", is the thought that I have everyday when I'm on my Kinetic Honda on Bangalore roads. The bumps and potholes on the road jiggle my fat enough that I never feel the need for a workout. Coming back to Bangalore after five years provided a shock to my entire system. The place had changed! No more was it a sleepy town and when someone told me that Jayanagar still reminded them of OLD Bangalore, I chuckled away to myself.I believe from the depths of my heart that you should not swear…

When can we truly 'fly over'?I hate the word flyover. After crawling for half an hour to cross a few yards near the Yestwantpur junction - where a 'flyover' construction is underway - the BBMP mocks at me by saying 'Construction is in progress. Go Slow'. There must be a grammatical error here - the word 'Slow' should be the first word in the sentence. Is there any flyover in Bangalore on which we can literally 'flyover'? If it were not in any stage of construction, there would be a traffic jam on it. Its more practical if these extended…