ET by invite: Projects like steel bridges are unsustainable

By: Ashish Verma

Large-scale infrastructure projects like road-widening, grade separators etc, are generally short-term solutions to the problem, and only help in shifting the point of congestion from one place to another. The proposed steel bridge to Hebbal junction from Basaveswara Circle, or the proposed network of elevated roads, are examples of unsustainable infrastructure projects. Unsustainable because the capacity they add will be insufficient for even a few years. They should be undertaken only after understanding the present and future mobility .
Unsustainable also because such projects involve a huge financial burden on the exchequer as well as very high social, environmental and economic impact. After the release of the National Urban Transport Policy in 2006, `moving people rather than vehicles' has been made the guiding principle of any urban transportation improvement.


Going by this policy , it will be difficult for any planner to justify big projects, which are meant primarily to facilitate movement of vehicles.Although our car ownership levels are still low, we cannot afford to reach anywhere near the one-car per-household plan, as that situation will probably lead us to zero mobility .

It is therefore important to switch over from road infrastructure-centric solutions to more demand-andspace management solutions. And, this has to come from good planning as well as good policy initiatives.

On the one hand, we need to focus our infrastructure planning on space-efficient modes -mainly public transport and walking and bicycling. On the other, we need to introduce policies that make private modes less attractive. The balance of these measures should be such that the use of space-efficient and sustainable modes become the preferred choice of the citizens.

(The author is associate faculty at IISc's Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation,and Urban Planning)