Taking a cue from European cities to promote public transport, cycling and making streets friendly for pedestrians and physically-challenged people, the Delhi Government has decided to redesign over 1,200 km of roads in the Capital at a cost of around Rs5,000 crore.
Under the project, street furniture, including glass lifts, toilet blocks, solar-powered streetlights and rainwater harvesting system will be put in place besides keeping space for hawkers and certain roads only for public transport. There would be dedicated lane for buses.
As a pilot project, 10 stretches have been identified that include Janakpuri to Sarai Kale Khan, Wazirabad to Sarai Kale Khan, Wazirabad to Singhu Border, Birtania Chowk to Mangolpuri. The new road redesigning is the modify version of the BRT. PWD officials on Saturday made a presentation to this effect before Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and PWD Minister Satyendra Jain. The CM sought suggestions from the media, which was present during the presentation.
Talking about the ambitious project, Kejriwal said Delhi’s traffic problem is linked to flaws in design of roads rather than space problem and his Government was trying to rectify them. He said designs of various roads will be different, depending on specific requirements.
Satyendra Jain said 10 roads have been identified for a pilot project which will be completed within eight months and then all roads under the Delhi Government will be redesigned.
He said the Government feels majority of road space have been occupied by cars across the city and that motorists constitute around 1.5 per cent of the total road users.
“Pedestrians and public transport are our major priority and if there is space left, then it will be for motorists,” Jain said, in a lighter vein, when articulating Government’s plan for the project.
To improve public transport, Jain said, the Government would ensure buses at an interval of 1-2 minutes at specific localities initially. He said major design flaws will be identified for all roads and will be rectified accordingly, adding that building owners occupying footpaths was a major issue.
Jain said trees will not be cut for the project and machines are being bought by the PWD to shift the trees to other location if they come in way of certain infrastructure.
"We may have to keep certain roads only for public transport as is done in many other European cities. We will install street furnitures like lifts with glass panel, toilet blocks and rain water harvesting system," he said, adding vendors will be given specific time slots to sell their products.