This story is from December 19, 2014

PCMC to trim footpaths for better flow of traffic

Pedestrians now have less space for themselves as the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has reduced the width of the footpath between Garware Nylon and Empire Estate housing society on the busy old Pune-Mumbai highway to accommodate more vehicles.
PCMC to trim footpaths for better flow of traffic
PUNE: Pedestrians now have less space for themselves as the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has reduced the width of the footpath between Garware Nylon and Empire Estate housing society on the busy old Pune-Mumbai highway to accommodate more vehicles.
The remaining footpath may be of little use as a large part of it is already taken away by parked two-wheelers, hawkers and autorickshaws, forcing the pedestrians to walk on the road.

This was a pilot project. The footpath width will be reduced in some areas of Akurdi and other areas once the dedicated bus rapid transit system (BRTS) lanes are created. But little attention is being paid to walkers who may be forced to use the road. This will not only threaten their safety but will also defeat the very purpose of creating more space for moving vehicles.
Earlier, the PCMC widened the 12 km stretch of the old highway to 61 metres to reduce congestion. The highway now has a central corridor of four lanes known as the express lane. There was a service road of three lanes on each side of this corridor till a year back when the civic body started creating dedicated BRTS lanes. As a result, the service road was reduced to two lanes.
Traffic congestion has increased everywhere where BRTS lanes have been created. For example, barricades have been put from Garware Nylons in Pimpri to Empire Estate in Chinchwad. The presence of commercial establishments along the 200 meter long stretch results in customers parking their vehicles on the footpath and on the service road. Long queues at the CNG pump and vehicles moving in the wrong direction make things worse. Now, only one lane is available on the service road for vehicles to go from Pimpri to Chinchwad. The civic body decided to reduce the width of the footpath from Garware Nylon to Empire Estate to make the service road wide.

Santosh Pingale, president of the Empire Estate Federation, said, “The footpath width has been reduced by putting up stone barriers, but this free space is used by motorists to park vehicles. Residents of Empire Estate sometimes have to wait for more than half an hour to cross the 200 meter highway from Garware Nylons to our main gate.”
The residents of 1,600 flats of Empire Estate have a tough time on Saturdays and Sundays as people come in large numbers to the shopping malls and shops located along the highway on both sides, Pingale said.
Despite the hardships faced by pedestrians, the civic body has decided to go ahead with its plan. A proposal for carrying out the footpath width reduction work in Akurdi and other areas will come up for discussion at the standing committee on December 23. The project will cost an estimated Rs 3.47 crore.
DD Patil, deputy engineer, BRTS cell, said, “BRTS lanes are causing congestion at several places along the highway. So, we have decided to reduce the footpath width to two metres at such points.”
Patil said the PCMC will ask the traffic police to declare congested points as no-parking areas. Meanwhile, activists have opposed the move. Sajag Nagrik Manch member Jugal Rathi said, “Pedestrians need footpaths having a minimum width of 2.5 metres. Action must be taken against double parking of vehicles.”
Times View
The decision to reduce the width of footpaths on the Pune-Mumbai highway again brings to the fore the repeated marginalization of pedestrians. Creating infrastructure to ensure the safety of walkers is often last priority. In this case, an adequately wide, usable and obstruction-free footpath is absolutely necessary because the road in question is a highway that passes through large residential areas. Pedestrians have as much right on the road, if not more, than those who use motorised transport.
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About the Author
Siddharth Gaikwad

Siddharth Gaikwad is a senior correspondent at The Times of India, Pune. He covers the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, the Khadki Cantonment Board and the Dehu Road Cantonment Board. He loves to read and travel.

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