Archive for March, 2007
March 31st, 2007
Chennai: Chennai would soon have new traffic arrangements in place, including introduction of one-way system to tackle the burgeoning road traffic, Union IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said.
“The first relief would come at the Velachery-Halda junction,” he said after inaugurating a joint venture company here on Friday.
He added that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has formed a high-level multi-disciplinary group for traffic management of Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore, which would coordinate with Indian and international experts.
Dayanidhi said traffic management had to be done in short-term, medium-term and long-term basis. The short-term plan would be one-way roads, flyovers in the medium-term and ring roads in the long-term.
Source: Chennaionline.com
March 29th, 2007
Lucknow: There are now encroachers emerging on both sides of the stretch between the Alambagh police station and Mawaiyya. Traffic constables deployed at the spot have remained oblivious to these vendors who stand with their ‘thelas’.
With traffic department already accepting its “helplessness” in battling encroachment, it is not worth a point to be made to them. However, it is certainly not doing much towards what is within its jurisdiction.
Although, there is a drive to rectify things nothing much is coming out of the routine exercise which is rolling on with each passing day. Charbagh has been the focus area for almost a week now wherein traffic authorities are all set to clear congestion.
A giant SRTC bus even if it halts for a trice is enough to throw traffic out of gear as there is a big line of vehicles trailing it. Situation is no better at Alambagh, Charbagh, Hussainganj, Burlington and GPO crossings, many of which are not without chaos even in the night. In a day’s action, however, on Wednesday, 61 SRTC buses were challaned. Besides, six black films, a pressure horn and a faulty number plate was removed. Fifteen vehicles were seized and 32 people were caught breaking traffic rules.
Source: TOI(Lucknow-epaper)
March 29th, 2007
Bangalore: Left carriageway of the underpass at Ramamurthynagar on Outer Ring Road, widened road between HAL corporate office to Kundalahalli junction and the left carriageway of the road over-bridge at Marathahalli will be thrown open for traffic on Friday. Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy will inaugurate the projects.
After opening the left carriageway, the BDA will take up work on the right carriageway. Similarly, the right carriageway work of Marathahalli over-bridge will commence after Friday.
The road from HAL to Kundalahalli cross is 5.13 km and at Marathahalli, Bangalore-Salem railway line crosses this road with a road overbridge. This road also gives connectivity to Airport from Electronic City and Whitefield. As such, the existing carriageway, which is undivided at some stretches, is not sufficient to cater even to the present day traffic. Hence the BDA decided to take up its widening at a cost of Rs 6.33 crore. It is now a 4-lane divided carriageway where pavements have been strengthened, parking space created on both sides of the road in Marathahalli limits, lane marking, road traffic signs and road furniture have been put.
The existing road over-bridge accommodates two-lane traffic of Airport Road and it was decided to build a new over-bridge with six-lane carriageway. Railways are implementing the project as a deposit contribution work.
The Ramamurthynagar underpass is a three-lane bi-directional carriageway and this is being implemented at a cost of Rs 17.46 crore.
Source: TOI(Bangalore-epaper)
March 28th, 2007
If you’ve been wondering why Delhi roads are increasingly becoming a death trap for pedestrians, read on. An audit of pedestrian facilities available on Delhi roads, conducted by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), reveals that most roads do not have zebra crossings, pedestrian lights or footpaths. And wherever such facilities are available, they are in such a run-down condition that people are forced to walk on the main road. The preliminary results point to an utter disregard for pedestrian rights and the problem areas of our roads.
Missing facilities: CRRI’s traffic engineering and safety division studied 47 major roads and junctions, including busy intersections like AIIMS, Ashram Chowk, IIT Gate, Shastri Park, Keshav Chowk, Sarita Vihar, Paharganj, Munirka, Surajkund and Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.
The audit shows that 55% of the roads surveyed did not have zebra crossings for pedestrians. But what is more shocking is that in 98% of the roads no pedestrian signals have been provided. This means pedestrians do not have any dedicated time to cross a busy stretch. Says Dr Nishi Mittal, a senior scientist who conducted the audit: ‘‘The only intersection where we found a pedestrian signal that provided a satisfactory time for pedestrians to cross was near RML Hospital. The pedestrian facilities were just not available at most of the intersections.’’
One-third of the footpaths were found to be encroached — the nature of encroachments varied though. At places, restaurants had placed their boards or gol-gappa stalls on the pavements, while car showrooms lined up vehicles on the sidewalk. As Dr Geetam Tiwari of IIT Delhi’s Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) says: ‘‘Most of the pavements are encroached upon. Take for instance, the pavement in front of Supreme Court and near Patiala House. They have turned into parking lots.’’
Pedestrian behaviour studies across the world show that people do not like to cross the road in one go. They prefer to wait on the central median, which is also called pedestrian refuge island. In 80% of the roads surveyed, these refuge islands were not present. In most cases, they were too narrow for people to stand safely.
Quality of facilities: The existing pavements are not maintained properly. And the study also shows that the civic agencies have not stuck to basic standards laid down for constructing pavements. Not a single pavement was found to have ramps which made them disabled-friendly. Says Dr Mittal: ‘‘As per the standards, the height of a pavement should not exceed 30 cm. If they are higher, it becomes difficult for children, the elderly and disabled to use them. Pedestrians start avoiding such pavements and prefer walking on the main road.’’ Of the pavements surveyed, 53% were found to be higher than 30 cm. In many cases, they were as high as 37.5 cm.
The width criteria has not been followed either. Whereas sidewalks should be 1.8-metre wide, they measured 30% less in most cases. Dr Mittal says: ‘‘The moment civic agencies start road widening, the first casualty is the sidewalk. The width is reduced.’’ The aesthetics were also found to be shocking — 37% of the sidewalks were ‘‘too uncomfortable to walk’’ and 33% of them had developed severe cracks.
The way out: Experts feel that the biggest problem is lack of planning. Dr Tiwari says: ‘‘We are not thinking from the point of view of pedestrians. We first think of the motorist who is driving a car. The planners have to integrate pedestrian facilities with each infrastructure project. We need to make a choice — do we want a city for cars or a city for pedestrians.’’
Source: TOI(Delhi-epaper)
March 27th, 2007
New Delhi: The chaotic Delhi roads may at last get a semblance of discipline. The Delhi High Court on Monday stepped in to hike traffic fines across the board by Rs 500 and placed a ban on all tinted glasses and parking in Lutyen’s zone.
The slew of directions to revamp the traffic system came three months after a Times of India report had drawn the court’s attention to the increasing road accidents in the city.,
In a comprehensive order, a bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and H R Malhotra also laid down strict guidelines for bus drivers and fixed the speed limit for vehicles — 45-50 kmph for light vehicles within the city and 35-40 kmph for heavy vehicles. All directions will come into effect from April 9.
‘‘Immense influx of light and heavy vehicular traffic has made Delhi roads dangerous to human life. Therefore, control of traffic in NCR and NCT is a matter of paramount public safety and has been a matter of judicial concern,’’ the bench said in its 70-page verdict dealing with each aspect of the traffic system.
The bench had been toying with the idea of increasing traffic fines since ‘‘the gravity of offences like rash driving and red-light jumping have lost their impact because of low fines’’. But it faced stiff resistance from the government which claimed an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act was required for the purpose. The court got around the problem by introducing a flat ‘‘compounding fee’’ of Rs 500 to be charged with every fine. This, in effect, hikes all traffic fines by Rs 500 from April 9.
The compounding fee, the bench said, was a way to recover the huge expense incurred by the government in traffic modernisation. Alarmed by cases of rape and murder in moving vehicles with tinted windows, the bench decided to ban all kinds of black film on glasses.
Source: TOI(Delhi-epaper)
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