Logical Solutions to Bangalore’s Traffic – Part IV: Pedestrian Infrastructure

August 19th, 2010

…continuing from the previous post…

(and here’s the first part of the series)

Another huge reason why traffic is so bad in Bangalore is the complete lack of infrastructure for pedestrians. So called signal free roads are planned with no consideration for how a pedestrian will get from one side of the road to the other. At the same time it’s almost impossible for the pedestrians to walk on the pavements either.

Even in areas where there have been good pavements laid, there are other innumerable problems. 80 Feet Road, Indiranagar is a good example. Large parts of the road have good pavements with tiles and covered drains and everything! But some bits are inexplicably incomplete. And then you have the places where the pavement is unusable because the home owners or the shop keepers have parked their vehicles or their guests vehicles on the pavement. And then you’ve got un-pruned trees and gardens maintained by house owners who have been to stingy to keep a garden within their own plot!

So what can be done?

  1. Build proper pavements. They don’t need to be fancy. They just need to be there. Often pavements can be built as part of the covers of the drains. No need to take up extra road space for them.
  2. Put up barriers between the road edge and the pavement so that enterprising two wheeler riders don’t decide to jump the traffic by taking up pavement riding.
  3. Ensure that every major road has pedestrian over-bridges or underpasses at regular intervals. If they can be made with escalators, all the better.
  4. Ensure that all over-bridges and underpasses are open for use and are clean and well-lit.
  5. All of these pedestrian ways should have proper signs. There’s a new over-bridge near the Tin factory on Old Madras Road, but most people haven’t realized it’s an over-bridge because it’s loaded with advertising and looks like a hoarding!
  6. Seating areas at selected places. People get tired. Especially those who walk in the hot sun in India. A few seats at scattered locations would do good. Otherwise people tend to sit on the edge of the pavement with their legs jutting into the road.

to be continued…

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