Every time Bengaluru traffic makes headlines for the wrong reasons, the state government promptly announces a big-ticket solution. From changing school timings to bringing in special officers to focus on traffic management, these solutions have fizzled out over a period of time. After a massive traffic snarl on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) delayed comedian Trevor Noah's show, which was subsequently cancelled, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar doubled down on his 190-km tunnel road project across Bengaluru to ease traffic congestion. But here’s the issue—most experts and even officers working with the government say this idea is untenable and will not help Bengaluru traffic. It might not even happen anytime soon. So why is DK Shivakumar committing to it publicly and repeatedly?
Before that, let’s review why the idea that is being touted as the magic wand which will solve Bengaluru’s traffic nightmare, is a disaster. DK Shivakumar, also the Bengaluru Development Minister, has announced that a 190-km tunnel road will be constructed to unclog Bengaluru roads. He has said that global tenders will be called in the next 45 days. While there is still no clarity on measurements, he has said that the government is planning to make it a four or six-lane road. He has suggested that the project will cover areas like the Silk Board junction, Bellary Road, Old Madras Road, Esteem Mall Junction to Mekhri Circle, Sirsi Circle, Outer Ring Road and KR Puram.
Data collated on traffic behaviour clearly show that if you add more road space, more vehicles will follow. In that sense, tunnel roads will add more vehicles to Bengaluru. While it is true that Bengaluru has less road space, can a 190-km alternate, underground network of roads be the solution? Civic experts unanimously say it will only complicate the situation more.
“The guiding principle that drives decision-making should be on moving people and not vehicles,” an expert who has been on several advisory committees for the state government said. “By building the tunnel, the political class is giving the signal: keep buying private vehicles, and we will find ways of accommodating it instead of expending energy to bring people to public transport. Bengaluru’s traffic will not improve till this changes,” he added.
Presently, Bengaluru has a 1:1 ratio of people to vehicles for a population of 1.2 crore. The greater Bengaluru area has around 12,000 kms of road, including arterial, sub-arterial and residential lanes. Given this, if 60-65% of the people's movement does not happen through public transport—in this case, it includes BMTC bus, suburban train, metro and even pavements, then there will not be a solution to the traffic woes, believe most civic experts.
So far, the average rate of building the Bengaluru metro is around 5 kms per year, including overground and above-ground systems. In the past 18 years since metro construction started, 75 kms have been built. In the next six years, another 140 kms is expected to be completed. With this track record, if the same yardstick is used for building 190 km of tunnel roads, it will take at least 38 years for the project to be completed. Given the challenges expected in digging underground for the massive length proposed, machinery might have to be imported too.
Meanwhile, while the construction of such a project takes place, there is large-scale digging up of roads which could further narrow the existing roads. While advocates of the tunnel project claim there will be no tree felling as opposed to building flyovers, design engineers in BBMP say that during the construction, to clear up space on either side of the proposed roads, there will be a need to cut trees. So until it is operational, the project will take up space in a city that is already overburdened.
There is also the issue of the availability of government-owned land to accommodate such a massive project. While it might be premature to envision which parts of the city can integrate underground roads, experts say that when the tunnel roads come onto the surface, there needs to be enough space on roads to be able to join the existing roads. Even if the tunnel road is four-lane, there is just no public government land in Bengaluru to accommodate this convergence. This will require more land acquisition, which means a possibility of multiple delays.
Given Bengaluru’s topography, the city frequently witnesses flooding on surface roads. From an engineering perspective, tunnel roads risk flooding routinely.
Experts peg that building 1 km of this tunnel road will cost around Rs 450 crore. So at 190 kms, the total project cost could exceed Rs 85,000 crore. It would take a fraction of this to improve the already existing public transport infrastructure with much better results.
So why is the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister so determined to build this? Many officers TNM spoke to said that there has been pushback from within the government over this project. Many colleagues of Shivakumar have objected to this due to its design, cost and the messaging intended. “DK Shivakumar has expended most of his political capital on pushing this project,” an insider said.
The idea for the tunnel road was not given by mobility experts or scientists but by real estate developers, say sources. “No expert committee proposed the idea or cleared it,” says an insider. “The idea was mentioned by many builders in Brand Bengaluru meetings, and DKS has made it his pet project. He has several business interests in the real estate industry,” he added.
In August 2023, when BDA and BBMP called for companies to submit an Expression of interest (EoI), they hardly saw any takers. The deadline, which was supposed to be on August 7, was extended to August 17.
A Congress leader said the project is ‘grand enough’ for DKS to make it his political monument. “It is difficult to showcase projects like increasing bus fleet or improving public transport. They are not as flashy and scattered,” the insider added.
In a recent interview, DK Shivakumar has taunted ministers from the previous Congress government for backing down from building a steel bridge after public outcry. “In 2017, CM Siddaramaiah was scared about protests against a steel flyover. If it was me, I wouldn’t have succumbed to it and would have gone ahead with the project, whatever the consequence,” DKS had said.
But knowing that the tunnel road project may not be feasible, the Dy CM may opt to bring it down a notch and build it in phases. “He may choose to build a part of it as a face-saver and showcase it during elections. While CM Siddaramaiah might be the face of the five guarantees of the Congress government, DKS wants to make this his legacy for this term,” an insider added.
Read: Bengaluru tunnel roads: Yet another decongestion solution not grounded in reality