The aim of the workshop was for MTC to understand the latest developments by other leading transit providers in India like BMTC and JANMARG. The day presentations from Experts from ITDP and Embarq who have worked with these providers in the recent years.

The possibility of having a directional based bus service system for Chennai with the demonstration of the operational BIG 10 system of Bangalore was explained. The BRTS system of Ahmedabad was explained.

The methodology of implementing these systems was highlighted.

Last year, according to traffic police records, nearly 500 pedestrians died on the city’s roads. The number of such fatal accidents is hardly surprising. With pavements fast disappearing from the face of Chennai, pedestrians are increasingly being forced to the road.

It is not as if the city didn’t have footpaths — but today they have either been gobbled up by encroachers or made inaccessible by obstacles in the form of electricity junction boxes, parked vehicles, garbage bins, shops, signboards, wires. The walker has nowhere to go.

Tiruvottiyur High Road in north Chennai or Sardar Patel Road in south Chennai is a case in point. At any time of the day, one can see hapless pedestrians trying to make their way through buses, cars and two-wheelers, putting their lives at risk. So are the Mada Streets in Mylapore, where the pedestrian has to take measured steps in the narrow stretch left between shops spilling onto the road and parked vehicles.

sidewalk construction in newyork

In other cases, their very design renders them a waste. Sample this: around 10 in the morning, the busy Thirumalai Pillai Road in T. Nagar is brimming with vehicles of all sizes and colours. An elderly lady is about to step on the footpath, but it is a little high for her. She waits for a few seconds and asks a young man to help her ‘climb’ it.

“My bank is not very far, but it is such a nightmare crossing this stretch. The pavements are too high for me. I need to climb up and down. Sometimes, I am forced to take an autorickshaw for such a short distance,” said S. Kamala, a pensioner living in the locality for over two decades. “If only the pavements were more convenient, I could comfortably walk both ways.”

Pavements in the city are unkind to all pedestrians, and senior citizens like her find them particularly inconvenient. With obstructions springing up for every few footsteps taken, Chennai’s pavements are of little use to the pedestrians.

Until a few years ago, the ‘vanishing pavement syndrome’ largely affected arterial roads, especially in commercial areas. But now, streets in residential pockets and smaller lanes have also succumbed to the problem.

Many neighbourhoods in the city are witnessing patches of green displace the footpaths. “The owners of this apartment just fenced the pavement and put some plants. It looks pretty, alright. But where do we walk,” asks V. Anand, an R.A. Puram resident.

With rows of vehicles parked along either sides of virtually every street, the gardens along road margins is the last thing they need, pedestrians note.

There can be no common template that can be used for all roads. Each road needs a studied approach to designing pavements. “Depending on the width, parking requirements and space for street vendors, a good pavement design can be evolved for each road. The Corporation should hire architects for the purpose,”read full article in The Hindu

“In the last five years, New York City has transformed as we focused on improving mobility, introducing new select bus services, and treating streets as valuable public spaces,” said Ms. Sadik-Khan. “Cities like Chennai can learn from our experiences and start working towards a better future.”

Ms Sadik Khan & Ms Burden (L to R)

Over the past three years, New York introduced Select Bus Service, a priority bus service, implemented 260 miles of new bicycle lanes, and created new public spaces in key city locations, including Madison Square, the DUMBO Manhattan Bridge arch, the Bronx Hub, and Gansevoort Street.

While in Chennai, Ms. Sadik-Khan spoke about how NYC was able to use their existing road network to encourage more sustainable modes of transportation and reduce congestion. “Building more concrete, asphalt, and steel is not going to reduce congestion and make people’s daily commutes easier. Cities in India have to find better ways—more sustainable ways—for people to get around.”

In addition to the quality and diversity of the transportation network, the city’s built form plays an important role in making sustainable transport viable.

Amanda Burden, Chair of the New York City Planning Commission and Director of the Department of City Planning, stressed the importance of integrated planning. “Transportation planning and city planning go hand in hand. The city should give priority to connectivity among public transport systems and within the street grid. This way, we channel new development and investment to transit-rich areas and encourage transit-oriented development. New York City’s goal is that by 2030, 95 per cent of all new development will be located within a 10-minute walk of a subway stop. Today, we are already at 87 per cent.”

“Chennai should focus on good public transport connectivity, compact dense development around the transit corridors, and also beautifully tree lined pedestrian pathways. There is so much vitality and vibrancy on the streets already and these changes would further enhance but it seriously requires a safe and comfortable pedestrian environment,” she added.

The commissioners met with senior officials of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, the Mayor and Commissioner of Chennai, board members of the Chennai chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), and noted business leaders from Chennai.

ITDP’s parking expert – Michael Kordonsky was in Chennai recently to conduct a day long seminar on parking. it was a run-through on his observations of many cities in the west. it was good to hear from so many around the table.

Co-incidentally at City Connect Foundation we are now working on a parking policy document with the help of CPPR. the study focuses on next set of policy changes that need to be put in place for a city like chennai to address the issue where clearly the demand is way above the supply.

• Current Parking Position
• Parking Management models from across the globe
• Specific case studies and strategies for Mylapore, RK Salai, Purasaiwalkam, Adyar

In the context of Chennai, the ones to immediately be accused when there is a traffic issue is the number of share autos / tata magic vehicles. They are looked more as road occupying entities and not as vehicles that transport people and also increase the capacity of high capacity transit corridors by providing a feeder role to them.

Team Civitas along with City Connect is now working on a Para Transit Report, which intends to statistically give the contribution of these Para-Transit vehicles to the transportation system in Chennai and also would explore and inspect similar best pratices across the globe.

Watch this space for more on the report.

We went into the study, not expecting the results that came! Now that the field data is out, it can help us make more informed policy decisions.

Here is also a presentation of the main points observed during the study:

Mr Raj Cherubal, Director-Projects of Chennai City Connect is writing a weekly column on city infrastructure in Times Property.

Metal stumps stick out from the road on my way to work – short, sharp ghosts of earlier signposts, few inches from the now re-incarnated median. I ran over one. Now a bit wiser, I drive far away from medians, wasting precious space on already-congested roads.

Two ways become a one-way without modification to footpaths, junctions; in addition, entirely different traffic patterns – traffic lights, signage, parking, planned lanes for turning vehicles, add to the exissting woes. Achieving the desired result of improved traffic flow temporarily, this leaves hapless pedestrians with no wider footpaths or safe crossings, increased chaotic and haphazard parking. Similarly, cuts on new roads, a pet Indian peeve, while inevitable in evolving urban environments, exacerbate the bitterness with lack of re-filling standards.

Beyond democratic whining, let us start afresh. World over, even tiny towns, apply standards. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) has developed standards for Indian conditions – immense density, vendors, pedestrian safety, managed traffic and parking – with thought-through templates for disparate streets. After consultation, the Corporation of Chennai (CoC) and urban departments of Highways, an oxymoron, should adopt them.

Employ experts to design every square inch of streets. This currently non-existent practice costs a fraction of the tender and saves precious lives and incalculable headache. While at it, establish dedicated, competent traffic planning cell in CoC, with representation from traffic police. An influential official once burst out in frustration, “Let CoC rip out all decrepit pieces of existing roads and re-do them from scratch. Let the city have a world-class system of roads.” Surely citizens of Chennai will second that.

Re-working dense streets, re-locating utilities of uninterested agencies and politically-sensitive demolitions should not be underestimated. Employ project management professionals to ensure quality and timeliness. Outsource long-term maintenance, under stringent service-level agreements. Let citizens’ groups and officials jointly monitor and hold the contractor’s feet to fire.

Imagine engineered slopes for water flow into modern drains – this will save re-doing of all roads after next rains – ducts for utilities, luxurious pedestrian and bus-stop facilities, modern traffic controls, efficient junctions and controlled parking. Ostensibly extravagant, these are peanuts compared to costs inflicted by congested and unsafe streets. Let us reimagine Chennai roads while saving our already battered tyres.

First Published in Times Of India