JOIN USStretch near Britannia Chowk to showcase road redesign
The Delhi government has given a go ahead to a private consultant for redesigning a 500-metre stretch of the Ring Road and connecting roads near Britannia Chowk in north Delhi, ahead of a bigger pilot project to decongest 10 roads.
“The work on the Britannia Chowk stretch would begin on November and on its completion the work on 10 congested roads will be taken up,” said a senior PWD official.
The go-ahead for the work was given after the consultants’ report was approved by
the Unified Traffic Transportation Infrastructure Planning and Engineering Centre
(UTTIPEC).
The 500-metre stretch would display the ideal way for optimal use of space for promoting safe public transport and para-transport like autorickshaws.
Proper space for non-motorised vehicles – mainly cycles and e-bikes – shall also be allocated on the sides of the busy road, along with user-friendly walkways for pedestrians and the physically challenged.
Five people die on Delhi’s roads every day and around 70 per cent of these are pedestrians and cyclists.
The Delhi government has drawn up an ambitious plan to redesign over 1,200 km of roads in the city for enhancing safety aspects at a cost of around Rs 5,000 crore
Space for hawkers shall also be allocated on the redesigned stretches of the 10 roads, besides modern street furniture, solar LED streetlings, glass lifts, toilet blocks and rain water harvesting system.
“The hawkers shall have designated time slots for operating from the kiosks,” said an official.
Road design rectification on the 10 roads is slated to be completed in the next eight months. Road lanes may be reserved for public transport buses on these stretches.
According to PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, the Delhi government wants to give pedestrians and cycle users a bigger share in the space available on roads.
At present, car users, who constitute 1.5 per cent of the commuters, occupy a majority of road space.
The government also plans to relocate trees – instead of cutting them down – while creating more facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has repeated on a number of occasions that there is no shortage of space on roads but the problem was with their design.
The Chief Minister has insisted that road planning should give greater attention to pedestrians and cyclists and reduce fatalities.