Midweek Musings 5 7.01.2026

 

Road planning.

By Malini Shankar

Digital Discourse Foundation

Let’s keep this simple and to the point. Let’s try to understand need for roads in modern city planning.

The need for resource planning has never been greater given the population densities and need for development.

Roads play a critical role in cities and hinterland today… as they literally provide land and space for the wheels of the economy.

Infrastructure, housing, health care, education, telecommunications, urban green cover, the demands on finite resources stretches the human capacity as well as the finite resources themselves. While apportioning land for these overheads road planning assumes that much more significance because roads can provide smoother experience in the above sectors when well planned.

Roads should not just be tarred, but cemented and made to endure the elements in a tropical area for atleast five to seven decades.

Roads in urban areas have to be designed for smooth transit, safety, large cargo movement / supply chains, have to facilitate different types of logistics and supply chains among other things.

Land has to be apportioned to Main Roads and Crosses, and Lanes. Alleyways can be a further classification. Main roads have to be uniformly laid out – either North to South or East to West. Crosses must intersect main roads, and lanes must further intersect cross roads in geometrical proportion of land allotment. Curving main roads, crosses and lanes must compensate for land loss.

Main roads in commercial areas or Central Business district must be of a certain measurement / dimension and alignment, for that will determine indicators of Smart City Governance: land allocation, land use planning, resource mobilization, and most of all good governance because land and real estate markets, are well defined then.

Needless to reiterate exits should be planned for different land zones - commercial hubs, transport infrastructure, logistics, health care education zone, recreation areas etc.

Apart from Main Roads, Ring Roads are necessary. We will further need dedicated roads for public transport, feeder lines, ambulance driveways, supply chain facilitation for urban logistics management, feeder lines for Metropolitan Public transport and so on. The challenge is in connecting all these to residential suburbs in a systematic way. But doable…planning is necessary.

Public transport plying on such planned roads must be compatible to the needs of the mobility impaired, visually and hearing impaired populace. Traffic signals, instructions,

Arterial roads need to be connected to all feeder lines and other types of roads; There should be multiple arterial roads to avoid congestion and should double up in emergencies. And yes Arterial Roads and Ring Roads should be usable as runways and tarmacs during war.

Last but not least green cover should be factored for asphalt ribbon construction.

If Greater Bangalore Area or any new city has to be planned it should be on the lines of an evenly cut pizza base with the central crust being the hub n heartbeat of a new city. New taluks being added to GBA will be residential areas with arterial roads separating every new Taluk. Main roads dissect the new suburbs Cross roads intersecting the main roads and lanes intersecting the crossroads and so on. Then automatically the land use planning falls into place. Pharmacies, hospitals and health care facilities must be universally accessible to residents and tax payers of that suburb. Common Property Resources must be nearest to the Hub or heartbeat – the Central crust of the district so that it is easily accessed by all through dedicated roadways. Health care infrastructure, education district, commercial hubs must be ‘banded’ around the CBM (Central Business District) for zonation.

Legally notified and protected green cover must be apportioned @ 33% per capita basis per district. That means  every single human being and animal in the area must get 16  - 20 Litres of fresh pure oxygen from green cover every single minute from the trees and green cover.  Now that’s a tall order, but can be achieved only through proper planning.