CSMT streets to be more pedestrian-friendly
19 spots to undergo beautification
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) have collaborated with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) to make roads more pedestrianfriendly. The team will be working at 19 congested junctions across the city, in a bid to organise the movement of pedestrians and vehicles. Chief among these locations is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), which sees a footfall of 1.3 million people every day.
The initiative was started in 2015, after an agreement was endorsed by American businessman, politician and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
After studying traffic patterns and conducting a survey with the help of MTP data, the BIGRS has come up with a Global Street Design Guide (GSDC). The guide has been created with inputs from 72 cities around the world. It prioritises pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. These efforts are to avoid fatal accidents, create more open public space, ensure pedestrian safety and emphasise on using more public transport.
Heading the BIGRS is Janette Sadik-Khan, former commissioner of the New York City department of transportation. Khan said, Mumbai's CSMT has always been an iconic location for the project, as it is similar to New York's Times Square. "The proposed redesign for CSMT could be a moonshot for Mumbai, showing what is possible on a city street. Mumbai joins over 80 global cities and organisations that are taking back their streets with designs which put people before the vehicles".
Abhimanyu Prakash, Program Manager of Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), who has worked with various projects in African and Asian countries, said, "We have submitted the the design proposal to the civic body, which has been passed. We now have to consider the existing geometry to transform the space and make it more open and safer for road users. Lanes will be aligned to improve traffic flows and create public spaces around CSMT junction."
Along with CSMT, the other intersections undertaken by the group are at the Noor Hospital junction in Oshiwara, Lokhandwala Circle, Dharavi Depot, Nagpada Junction, Worli Naka, LBS Marg, BKC Road, Sion-Bandra Link Road and SV Road going through Santacruz, Poisar and Mahim.
Trials will be conducted to apply design strategies at minimal cost, with paints, cones and barricades. "The idea is to make good use of under-utilised spaces on streets for pedestrians and narrow down free turning lanes and reduce speeding vehicles," said Khan.
Additional municipal commissioner (eastern suburbs) Vijay Singhal said he is extremely happy to be associated with the cause and would love to see the city traffic as manageable as NYC in future.