Mumbai: How BMC can make life better for walkers

As citizens have objected to the raised dividers midday in the third and final part of the series speaks to experts to make pedestriansrsquo life better They suggest that BMC reduce the distance between gaps in the dividers and make the crossings safe with broad speed breakers and zebra markings for both walkers and motoristsWhile the BMC is busy breaking apart dividers in perfectly fine condition the one on Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari road in Kalanagar Bandra East is crumbling There are cracks all along the 450meterlong road and the paint has come off Condition in eastern suburbsA long stretch of 90 feet road outside Siddhivinayak Mandir has no gaps for pedestrian crossing in Ghatkopar East PicSameer MarkandeAfter south Mumbai andwestern suburbs midday also took a test drive in the eastern suburbs The divider on a stretch of 90 feet road outside Siddhivinayak Mandir in Ghatkopar East does not have a single pedestrian crossing Residents complained that they have to walk until the end of the road as they are unable to climb over the tall dividersAlso Read Beautification row New dividers eating into road spaceJigna Shinde a Pant Nagar resident who travels to this area daily said ldquoSome park their twowheelers beside the divider creating traffic menacerdquoA tall steel railing had been erected as a divider outside railway station Ghatkopar East PicSameer MarkandeAnother resident said ldquoSince the Metro work has been going on for years now we are accustomed to not being able to cross the road We have no choice but to adaptrdquoThe situation outside Ghatkopar railway station on the east side was different with both pedestrians and motorists complaining about the railing divider from Khokhani to Jethabhai lanes They have to go a long distance to cross the road or take a Uturn The curb of the railing also acts as a makeshift cowshedThis crumbing divider outside Guru Nanak Hospital in Bandra East as seen on Wednesday has not caught the attention of the BMC which is busy breaking good barriers PicPradeep DhivarHemang Shah who runs a shop on the road however said the railing divider has helped maintain the flow of traffic ldquoEarlier there was a cement divider that took up a lot of space Now even if one lane on the road is occupied by auto rickshaws and another by parked twowheelers there is space on the other lanerdquolsquoPunishing the pedestriansrsquoA pedestrian said ldquoItrsquos an odd way to punish citizens by not allowing them to cross the road where they need to It is the duty of the motorists to slow down and avoid rash driving The traffic police are unable to discipline motorists so they are punishing the pedestriansrdquoldquoMumbai has a lot of pedestrians who like to cross roads wherever they feel like Bikers and motorists too need to cross after parking So any design or decision for city streets must take this into account One cannot overlook the fact that over the past decade pedestrians have been squeezed out of walking space by the sheer pressure of automobiles If tall medians are installed where there is a large crossing demand the pedestrians suffer The streets of Mumbai need careful and sensitive design and clear priority needs to be given to pedestrians and not just vehiclesrdquo said Dhawal Ashar programme head of integrated transport at WRI IndiaWhat the rules sayAccording to the Indian Road Congress IRC raised dividers are meant to prevent headon collisions especially on highways with narrow medians caused by outofcontrol vehicles They also shield fixed objects on the median from traffic flowAverage traffic flow needs to be taken into account to build medians If a road with lanes wider than nine metres has fewer than 200 passenger cars passing in a day the probability of a vehicle going across the median is relatively low and crash barriers in such cases are optional it saysOn pedestrian crossings the IRC guidelines clearly state that in urban hubs gaps should be provided at every 250 metres which the BMC is following However experts said the distance can be shortened keeping the cityrsquos requirement in mindThe guidelines do not specify the height of dividers but mentions that the width should be uniform It adds that pedestrian crosswalks should either be raised or marked zebra crossing At crossings without signals raised crosswalks are to have a minimum width of 3 metres elevated to the level of the adjacent footpath with ramps for motor vehicles with a slope of 18 gradient or 1 inch height for every 8 inchesCorrect crossingldquoWhen the authorities point out rules for dividers it is their duty to give obstructionfree footpaths to pedestrians and smooth roads to motorists There should be ideal junctions for crossing the roads The correct way of creating a junction is to increase the height of the road by six inches or at the level of footpaths so that the pedestrians do not need to step down on the road and the vehicles slow down as well The speed breakers should be six feet widemdashtwo feet to raise the height by six inches two feet of flat road for pedestrians to cross the road and remaining two feet to lower the gradient to the road levelrdquo said transport expert Ashok DatarAnother expert said ldquoTall dividers will not only create an issue for pedestrians but also for emergency vehicles At times ambulances run on the right side by crossing flat dividers to save the life of patients Even fire engines have to cross the median BMC should install collapsible dividers intermittently so that fire engines and ambulances can break them to make their wayrdquoAV Shenoy member of Mumbai Vikas Samiti and founding member of Mumbai Mobility Forum said ldquoThe BMC needs first focus on providing pedestrian access at regular intervals and a refuge where they can wait for their turn to cross over The BMC should also ensure one or two standardised designs of dividers If you are using tiles in south Mumbai then the same should be done in the suburbsrdquolsquoPedestrians lack disciplinersquoldquoOur pedestrians lack road discipline They cross roads wherever it is convenient for them sometimes even while talking on the mobile phone and being unaware of the moving traffic In such a situation it is necessary that their movement is regularised at specific points where there is gap in the median dividerrdquo said expert Jitendra GuptaHe however sought to understand the beautification process by planting trees and plants on dividers ldquoWhat is the condition of the footpaths and especially old trees Why has the BMC totally neglected fencing of these trees on footpaths and their maintenancerdquo he askedActivist Mushtaq Ansari of the Pothole Warriors Foundation said ldquoInstead of wasting money on replacing medians in good shape with raised dividers in the name of beautification the BMC should fix the roads in bad condition and repair overbridgesrdquoldquoThe dividers should be built on big roads with heavy and speedy traffic But the BMC has built dividers on narrow lanes like Chitrakar Budhkar Marg in Khar In case of an accident the entire road will choke Even fire engines and ambulances which cross the medians to reach in time will face difficulty The corporation is spending money without applying logicrdquo said Asif Zakaria former corporator from Bandra250mDistance being kept between gaps in dividers as per rules6ftIdeal width of speed breakers near crossingslsquoConsider city needsrsquoJitendra Gupta transport expertlsquoOur pedestrians cross roads wherever it is convenient for them sometimes even while talking on the phone In such a situation it is necessary that their movement is regularised at specific pointsrsquoAn expertlsquoTall dividers will not only create an issue for pedestrians but also for emergency vehicles At times ambulances move on the other side by crossing flat dividers to save the life of patients Even fire engines have to cross the median in emergenciesrsquo