Iffath Fathima By Express News Service BENGALURU: While skywalks are meant to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road, there are quite a few structures that remain unused in the city due to the absence of escalators or lifts. One such skywalk is at Sophia High School, which was constructed in 2010, and which remains barely used since then, despite the heavy traffic flow on Palace Road in front of the High Grounds Police station. Students of Sophia’s too find it difficult to navigate through the traffic. However, residents staying close by and the school students of say they have not been benefitted by the overbridge, which was a result of a project drawn by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in 2008. The skywalk at the Palace Road-Sankey Road intersection was constructed at an estimated cost of `60 lakh, and inaugurated in 2010. However, only a handful of people use the footbridge, while hundreds of citizens use the stretch every day. “This skywalk is clearly unusable. It has nearly 120 steps to climb up and down, which indeed makes it difficult for children, especially if they are carrying school bags,” Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, a resident of High Point Apartment on Palace Road, said. “The steps are also 9-inch high, making it worse. Because of these issues, most children take their life in their hands, and just cross the road. Senior citizens cannot even think of climbing it. In 2011, it was said that a lift will be installed, but it hasn’t been made till date,” she added. Students of Sophia’s also admitted that most of them don’t use the skywalk. “It is long, and we don’t prefer it. It is better for us to walk and cross the road than to walk the long stretch. Many students just prefer to cross the road taking the help of traffic police personnel,” a student said on condition of anonymity. Another student said, “It is difficult for us to climb so many steps. We take help from our seniors and cross the road.” According to traffic expert Professor MN Srihari tough measures need to be taken in such situations. “We should suspend all the engineers of BBMP, since they are constructing skywalks where it is not even required. They claim that they are building it for pedestrians, but they choose places where advertisement hoardings are visible. The skywalks are expensive too. It is a sheer waste of money,” he said.Chetty-Rajagopal also said the place comes under Zone A according to the advertisement by-law policy, which is considered a no-hoarding zone. “This is a no-hoarding zone but still many advertisements are put up. This skywalk is just used for displaying advertisements and nothing else,” she added. CE tried contacting the BBMP officials multiple times, but they remained unreachable.

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