The great news for Hyderabadis is that the GHMC is embarking on a Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) – a Rs.1, 267 crore initiative to re-fashion main roads in our city. It aims at easing traffic flow by removing bottlenecks, re-engineering crossings, building grade separators (flyovers), skywalks etc. and hold your breath – pedestrian facilities i.e. footpaths.
The last is the most important because Hyderabad is among the least pedestrian-friendly cities in India.
Try walking and one has to negotiate, even on the main roads, uneven muddy patches, decrepit transformers and electric poles, unseemly public toilets and not to mention haphazardly parked vehicles and itinerant hawkers.
Scour your mind to search for one proper pedestrian crossing – which means neatly defined zebra markings, working pedestrian signals, citizens walking across in a calm and civilized way like one commonly sees in Mumbai, you will come a cropper. So, what should the SRDP keep in mind when going for an overhaul of roads?
Footpaths first! It is a basic necessity.
Just like we desire ‘world-class’ flyovers, let us have ‘world-beating’ pedestrian facilities and street amenities. All obstructions like transformers, public toilets, stairs to FOBs, signages etc. should be shifted from the Right of Way (ROW) of pedestrians. A glaring example of this is opposite L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, where the FOB with escalator and lift occupy the footpath forcing pedestrians to walk on the road. So where can they be placed without obstructing pedestrian movement? The answer is in the Building Regulations GO 168 – section 5 f (vii) where space has to be given within the adjoining private property for locating public utilities. Why this is not enforced is baffling.
2. It goes without saying that the footpath surface should be even, slip resistant with standard kerb height, well designed barriers and good lighting. Tree planting bang in the middle of a walkway is a no-no – a common sight in the city where ‘authorities’ plonk trees with tree guards in the name of greening the city. The footpath should be so good that senior citizens and the physically challenged can find their way without assistance.
3. Hyderabad’s roads are notorious for their varying widths due to uneven building line and intermittent widening of roads. The arterial Begumpet Road is a good example with a relatively narrow waist at Old Airport/Prakash Nagar to a huge runway near Greenlands Guest House.
To ease traffic movement, main carriageway has to be of a constant width and remaining space on either side should be left for footpaths and plazas. These portions can accommodate the off street bus bays, parking and hawkers ‘bandis’.
4. Provide a service lane on either side of the road to segregate fast moving ‘through’ traffic and slow moving/start-stop local traffic. The bane of our main thoroughfares is that all the side streets emerging from the colonies feed directly into the main road creating traffic turbulence at frequent intervals. Feeder lanes will allow bi-directional traffic so that one can avoid getting on to the main road.
Service roads will also cater to street parking. Emergency vehicles like ambulances can be redirected to the service road for quicker travel.
5. Fix a Maximum Road Level (MRL) for all main roads. Don’t add two inches of tar every year or every time a VIP passes by or every time there is a ‘Global’ event! In doing this, footpaths sink below road level (e.g. Tank Bund, Charminar), plinth of new buildings are raised too high anticipating an increase in road levels a couple of decades hence, thereby causing the approach ramp to slice across the footpath cutting it into unwalkable bits and pieces. Rain water also floods into low lying properties.
6. Road space should not be looked upon merely as transport corridor. They are the public spaces where citizens come together everyday. Just as the well known saying goes ‘War is too important to be left to the Generals’, similarly road design is too important to be left to engineers! GHMC should engage architects, urban designers and landscape architects in designing streetscapes for creating functional, usable, maintainable and aesthetic spaces that will lift the morale and beauty of city. As an architectural firm, we took up a self assigned project to design the roadscape of A.S. Raonagar main road that connects Sainikpuri and ECIL X Roads.
This is a major developing commercial hub but despite its growing importance and usage, the pedestrian, parking, safety and traffic conditions are abhorrent.
What you see in the visuals are designs that are possible and every major road in the city can be transformed thus at probably the cost of a couple of flyovers, thereby permanently altering the look and feel of our urban spaces!
(The author is a senior practising architect in Hyderabad and can be reached at shankar@shankarch.com)
