The troubling rumble strips that had been set up at Sector 30-20-19-27 roundabouts would now be replicated in other parts of the city soon.
After drawing criticism from all the corners over their rumble strips experiment, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has found admirers in a team of experts on traffic issues from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi.
While talking to the mediapersons, KK Sharma, Adviser to UT Administrator on Tuesday said that a two-member IIT team, which was in the city recently, has appreciated the concept of rumble strips and has suggested that the same should be replicated in the other parts of the city.”
Sharma said, “The team had visited the Sector 30-20-19-27 roundabout to see the rumble strips constructed by the MCC.”
He added, “The rumble strip concept is now likely to be extended to the other sectors of the city to ensure road safety.”
The MCC had set up rumble strips on the Sector 30-20-19-27 roundabout to provide smooth way for cyclists, pedestrians and cycle carts.
The rumble strips had been laid to connect the bicycle tracks with roads and slow down the vehicles to provide safe passage to cyclists on the roundabout.
The IIT team was in Chandigarh recently to conduct a workshop for the UT officials to deal with traffic issues in the city.
The workshop focused on two aspects including infrastructure and transport. Retrofitting on the roads remained a significant issue in Chandigarh and the experts discussed about making it more workable.
During the workshop, the experts gave suggestions to the UT Administration to keep check on accidents on city roads.
The experts had suggested that public transportation should be improved in the city and more buses can be added for the commuters. At present, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has a fleet of over 500 buses, which carries over 50,000 residents every day.
As per the official figures, 156 people were killed in road accidents in 2012.
At present, the transport system in Chandigarh faces a major challenge due to continuous growth of urban population, private vehicle ownership, congestion and also due to the fragility of public transport here.
The UT Engineering Department is now exploring the options of widening the roads wherever possible, to construct extra lanes. The option of making certain lanes one way is also being explored by the Department.
To alleviate the traffic woes in the city, the UT also has big plans to bring in Metro project, BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor in Chandigarh.