The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A vague idea that led to ‘magic box’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A vague idea that led to ‘magic box’

Krishnaprasad

BBMP’s top engineers latched on to the concept
A consultancy firm was roped in to design it

Bangalore: The idea of “instant underpass” got life from the memories of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner S. Subramanya’s visit to the U.K. 14 years ago.

It was a team of BBMP engineers and private consultants who gave shape to Commissioner’s “vague” idea and built “magic boxes” to ease traffic problems of the silicon city.

Dr. Subramanya said that he was surprised to see an underpass built in three days when he travelled to Sussex in 1994. After he took over as Commissioner, he enquired with his engineers on whether it was possible to build an underpass within a short time.

The engineering team – comprising Chief Engineer (Major Roads) K.S. Krishna Reddy, Assistant Executive Engineer Ramakanth Desai, Assistant Engineer K. Chandrashekar — swung into action, consulted a private structural consultant for a solution and succeeded in designing pre-cast elements after analysing city’s road network, particularly the Bellary Road.

M.S. Sudarshan, Managing Director, Civil Aid Technoclinic Pvt Ltd, which designed the “magic boxes,” said that it took about 15 to 20 days to design the pre-cast elements after a series of consultation with the BBMP engineers and later it was subjected to field tests. The pre-cast elements had more stability and rigidity compared to conventional beam-method, Mr. Sudarshan said. The width of the pre-cast elements could be extended but it depended on the design of a road where it would be fitted.

BBMP used the services of Prof. B.R. Sreenivas Murthy of the civil engineering department of the Indian Institute of Science, pioneer of soil-nailing method, used as alternative for building retaining wall in conventional method. Soil-nailing method saved half the time and cost compared to conventional method, engineering pointed out.

The cost of the underpass was about Rs. 1.50 crore despite a delay of 30 days in completing it. Initially, the BBMP proposed to complete it in 72 hours but water leaks and other unexpected problems delayed the completion of work, which was started on January 16.

Initially, the cost was estimated at around Rs 1.45 crore. Apart from Rs. 1,5 crore, another Rs. 20 lakh had been spent from the amount earmarked for road, drains and the pavement improvement work for the ward.

Lessons

Not to commit itself to a short deadline to complete a project is the first lesson that the BBMP learnt when it completed construction of underpass at Cauvery junction on Monday.

Commissioner S. Subramanya said that they announced a deadline with good intentions but unexpected problems caused delays. “Still we are happy as we completed the work in a record time of 33 days.” He hoped that the remaining five underpasses would be built by the end of March.

The BBMP team learnt many other lessons like draining out water from construction site, executing multiple tasks at a time — without waiting for completion of one work to start the other — earth nailing technology as an alternative to conventional method of constructing retaining wall and so on.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka