Traffic woes as city grows
July 17, 2014
Though the traffic police have made arrangements to ease vehicle movement, residents of Anna Nagar, P.H. Road and Broadway, among others, feel the measures are inadequate
Travelling on certain arterial stretches in the city has become an ordeal especially during peak hours, thanks to the one-ways, traffic diversions and narrowing down of roads for ongoing Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) work.
During the rush hours in the morning and evening, the city’s traffic moves at snail’s pace. The honking of vehicles and the wail of ambulances that struggle to find a way through hordes of motorists, on some stretches, resonate for a long time.
Though the Chennai traffic police claim to have made arrangements, including one-way routes and traffic diversions, to ease vehicle movement, residents feel the measures are inadequate. “For travelling a few hundred meters, we take a detour of four kilometres. Every resident of Anna Nagar and Kilpauk has harrowing experiences,” said S. Arvind, a medical representative and resident of Anna Nagar.
V. Nagasundaram, secretary of Anna Nagar Welfare Association, says the locality lacks pedestrian crossing, traffic signals and traffic personnel at the main junctions. Shanthi Colony Main Road and Thirteenth Main Road present a classic example. “Crossing the roads is a nightmare, especially for senior citizens and children, because of one-ways,” he said. Moreover, the construction of a flyover near Thirumangalam junction has thrown traffic off gear.
The problem is not particular to Anna Nagar. Traffic policemen on Poonamallee High Road, too, complain that the problem gets aggravated during peak hours, especially near Chennai Central Railway station and Kilpauk Medical College. “There has been an increase in awareness to pave way for ambulances. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for the vehicles to get to the hospitals on time,” said a policeman.
Another location where traffic is chaotic is Broadway as the road has become narrow. “The presence of the market worsens the situation. It is becoming increasingly difficult to enter Madras High Court,” said V.S. Suresh, an advocate.
Traffic experts feel that a lot needs to be done for traffic management in Chennai. In Delhi, during the CMRL construction, though there were disruptions, an efficient traffic management plan helped ease congestion in some areas, said Rohit Baluja, president of Indian Road Traffic Education.
“In Chennai, they should have good lane management that would make transit between lanes well tapered and seamless. For instance, they could put the two- and three-wheelers in one lane and the four-wheelers in the other,” he said.
Establishing traffic engineering centres and training people is crucial to conducting surveys and providing better solutions for traffic congestion,he added.
Meanwhile, officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited said they intimate the traffic police about any change in their work one month in advance. “They then work out routes for diversions on the concerned road. In some areas, we employ more than two workers to control traffic,” an official said.
Source: The Hindu
Delhi-Gurgaon expressway gets a new operator
July 17, 2014
The Delhi-Gurgaon expressway has a new operator — Skylark Highways Solutions Ltd. The company will carry out maintenance and toll duties on the 28-km stretch beginning Wednesday. It will also be responsible for collecting toll at Kherki Daula plaza, which marks the end of the stretch.
According to figures provided by concessionaire Millennium City Expressways Pvt Ltd (MCEPL), about 2.5 lakh vehicles use the expressway to enter Gurgaon from Delhi every day and over 50,000 vehicles cross the Kherki Daula toll plaza to go to the new sectors of Gurgaon — Sectors 58-115 and Manesar.
Skylark Highways Solutions Ltd has been given a nine-month contract. After nine months, its work will be assessed before being made permanent. If made permanent, the contract will continue till 2023.
“We took over the toll plaza at Kherki Daula on Tuesday but will begin operations only from midnight. It will take us a few days to look into the problems at this particular toll plaza,” a spokesperson from Skylark said.
The new operator is expected to drive up the toll revenue. According to MCEPL officials, the toll revenue on weekdays from the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway is approximately Rs 36 lakh.
In order to check bribing at toll booths, which brings down toll revenue by almost 10 per cent, the concessionaire is planning to install Automatic Vehicle Classification and Counting machines. This machine will remove any possibility of human interference to determine the value of toll tax.
The expressway is also set to get a facelift and the contract for the same has been awarded to two Gurgaon-based companies — Gawar Constructions and NKC Infrastructure. While Gawar will work to recarpet the Delhi-Jaipur road, NKC Infrastructure will work on the Delhi-Gurgaon road. The 28-km expressway that has 21 entry points and 28 exit points will don a new look by the end of this year, an MCEPL official said.
Source:The Hindu
Commute made easy
July 17, 2014
A new mobile app, Lets drive Along, aims to make carpooling safe and fun
Traffic snarls and Bangalore have become synonymous over the past few years, as more and more cars clog the city roads making the daily commute a stressful activity for millions across the city. Let’s Drive Along is an attempt to reduce city traffic and make the commute an easier experience. The mobile app provides a host of features that will make car pooling a safe activity.
Srinath S, who created this app, after quitting his IT job says, “The main reasons why people are not happy with the concept of carpooling is issues like the lack of flexible timing and security concerns. This app offers the option for users to pick timings that suits them best. As far as the security aspect is concerned, before accepting a request, a user can see the profile of those interested in the carpool.
“This public profile will have information about the place where the person stays, the company he works for and his phone number. This ensures that you do not need to share a ride with a complete stranger. The app allows you to create lists of potential car pool mates. You are under no obligation to carpool on a daily basis.”
Srinath adds, “You cannot wish away all cars from the city roads. Two cars take up as much space as a bus that transports 50 people. I want to ensure that more people can carpool and travel together. It will bring down travel expenses and ensure that the traffic snarls are reduced considerably.”
Srinath says, “We work on a points system and do not have a monetary aspect. We are open to anyone who owns a car and wants to commute to any location in the city. Points are used and given based on the number of trips undertaken by the commuter. For example, you will gain more points if you drive more people and lose points if you are not driving.”
He adds, “You can pick the days you want to carpool. The response has been fairly encouraging and we are getting more and more hits on a daily basis.
“The police and a number of civic organisations are also helping us. We hope to get more people spread across the city, so that the network covers the entire city.”
Source:The Hindu
Stuck Rs 1.8lakh crore road projects to be launched by Aug15: Nitin Gadkari
July 16, 2014
Stalled highways projects worth Rs 1,80,000 crore will be rolled out in a month’s span after ironing out hurdles like delays in land acquisition and green nods, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
Blaming the previous regime for award of projects “without acquiring even 10 per cent of the required land” and causing hardships for road sector, Gadkari also announced that steps were on to launch new projects worth 2 lakh crore soon.
“As many as 189 projects with a cost of Rs 1,80,000 crore are stuck due to problems in land acquisition, delays in forest and environment clearances, non-transfer of defence land and hurdles in rail overbridges… hurdles will be removed by August 15 and work will start on these,” Gadkari said addressing a summit on Highways by PHD Chamber.
In a significant shift of policy, he also said that public private partnership (PPP) model was not feasible at present for award of road projects due to a host of issues “created by the previous government” and that schemes will be bid out on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode.
“Projects were bid out by previous government without even 10 per cent of the required land acquisition. Work could not start on the project where financial closure took place two years back. Banks withdrew financial closure…PPP mode is not possible now. We will work on EPC model for a few years,” he said.
Unlike PPP model where the private sector has to fund the road building, in the EPC model, the Government funds a highway, with private firms designing and building the road.
Gadkari said, “DPR (detailed project report) will be ready soon for projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore after which steps would be taken for forest and environment clearance and land acquisiton…after two years roads and port sector will help India’s GDP to grow at least by 2 per cent.”
Eleven projects under PPP by previous regime which are stuck for two years will be rolled under EPC, Gadkari said A Committee for such projects has been constituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under his chairmanship to fast track the road projects, he said.
Road sector alone accounts for Rs 2,40,000 crore NPAs by banks besides Rs 3,60,000 crore NPAs by power sector, he said adding he would soon be holding meetings with bank officials in this regard. After clearing the backlog, Road Ministry will aspire to build 30 km of roads a day, he said. He said work was on projects worth Rs 21,000 crore in Jammu & Kashmir and Rs 15,000 crore in the North East while hurdles for Rs 40,000 crore worth of projects were removed recently.
Gadkari said financing of road projects may not be a problem as the government is
willing to allow foreign investors to buy stake in a Corporation formed by Road Ministry. “We are holding talks with some nations and have offered 26 per cent stake in the Corporation in lieu of funds to the tune of Rs one lakh crore,” Gadkari said.
Also he said that an ambitious plan to lay gas, optical fibre and power transmission lines along the one lakh km national highways was planned to generate revenue for the government. Gadkari said public amenties are proposed to be constructed every 50 Km on National Highways and 2000 such facilities will be constructed housing malls, restuarants etc.
To make toll collection process at the national highways easier and more transparent, he said the government will roll out RFID-based electronic toll collection across at least 350 toll plazas in three months.
“For this, a RFID chip-embedded sticker will be put on the vehicles and money will automatically get deducted at the toll plazas, through which the vehicles will pass through,”he said adding the department has inked a pact with ICICI bank in this regard.
Solar panels would also be fitted on these toll plazas. Besides, trees would be planted across NH lengths and all these steps are expected to result in employment to about 10 lakh youth. Gadkari also said that concrete roads which last longer than bitument and were cost-friendly will be built. He said use of ethanol will be promoted in a bid to cuton huge Rs 6 lakh crore import bills on petroleum, gas and crude.
Also a new Bill for Motor Vehicle Act was in the making in consultation with the prevailing laws in six advanced nations – UK, US, Canada, Brazil, Japan and Singapore, Gadkari said. On ports and waterways sector, he said inland navigation is proposed to be started soon on Ganga river stretch besides building airport like terminals on its banks.
Dredging will be done at 12 major ports to increase the 12 metre draft to 18 metres besides creation of dry ports for such states without sea.
Source:The Hindu
The persistent bottleneck
July 16, 2014
On weekdays, the signal at Jagathy Junction causes a traffic jam stretching all the way to the AIR gates
Can a traffic signal produce a traffic jam half a kilometre long? If you want evidence of this, drop by Jagathy Junction on a working day morning. And yes, leave your vehicle at home because you sure do not want to be part of that half-kilometre queue.
Even on a quiet day, the All India Radio-Jagathy Junction road is busy. On working days, traffic on this road is nasty to say the least. After DPI Junction, the road narrows down, and there is hardly enough space for two-way traffic.
At Jagathy Junction, whenever the traffic light turns red, the result is a traffic pile-up all the way back to the All India Radio gates and, sometimes, even beyond. This also bring traffic to a standstill at DPI Junction, which is a crucial transit point for emergency vehicles coming from Jagathy, Poojappura, and beyond. The Jagathy bottleneck also proves frustrating for drivers who use Kochar Road to bypass traffic on the city’s ‘main’ roads.
Some people argue that such a small junction as Jagathy can do better without a traffic signal; what is needed, such people aver, are more personnel who can manage traffic more intelligently than a pre-programmed signal system. Is there any merit in this argument?
The Vellayambalam-Kowdiar stretch has achieved notoriety for high-speed bike racing by youngsters late in the night, early morning, and weekends.
The installation of cameras and clampdown on speeding have prompted the racing aficionados to shift to other places in the city. Of late, the wide stretch from the Kowdiar traffic signal to Pattom, especially till Kuravankonam, has become another sought-after place for racers.
Perhaps, it is time law enforcers turned their attention to the stretch before any untoward incident occurs.
It is not a surprise that whenever a work is under way on any road in the city, even if it is intended at improving the traffic situation, normal traffic is further thrown off-track.
The ongoing works on M.G. Road are perhaps the best example.
At East Fort, it is the work on shifting the median that has affected traffic and worsened the chaos, while a little ahead, towards the Secretariat, work on the Melepazhavangady flyover has seen iron sheets being put up, narrowing the road almost to a single-car pathway. This slows down traffic here at peak hours.
This is where a little bit of planning might come in handy.
Sources: The Hindu
Police to begin survey of CCTV cameras in Coimbatore
July 16, 2014
The Coimbatore City Police will begin a survey across the city on the availability of CCTV cameras in hospitals, banks and commercial establishments from Monday. Deputy Commissioner (Crime) R.V. Ramya Bharathi added that the condition of CCTV cameras that have been installed at these facilities would also be analysed during the survey.
The survey has been initiated in a bid to bring down thefts and to enable speedy detection of crimes. This step follows the theft of 25 sovereigns gold jewellery from an aged patient by a man in the guise of a doctor while she was admitted in a private hospital, earlier this week.
“There are multi speciality private hospitals in the city with several hundred beds, but do not have CCTV cameras for monitoring their premises. On the other hand, there are a good number of commercial establishments with CCTV cameras, but do n0t have the required backup facilities — which is equally important — for the recorded videos”, the Deputy Commissioner told The Hindu.
About the survey, she said that it would be conducted by a team led by the Inspector of Police in establishments under his jurisdiction, by visiting the premises.
“The study is expected to be completed in a week, after which efforts would be taken for gearing up installation of CCTV cameras at facilities that do not have one and for mending faulty cameras”, she said.
Ms. Ramya said that a communication would be sent to these institutions, urging them to install cameras on their premises.
She added that steps would be taken at the next stage to enhance surveillance by installing more CCTV cameras — to ensure foolproof monitoring and for having proper storage for the recorded videos.
The Police are also planning to conduct a series of meetings for bankers, jewellers and other commercial establishments on installation of cameras.
Source: The Hindu
NGO distributes smileys, says thank you for wearing helmets
July 16, 2014
Commuters at the bustling Bharat Nagar Chowk were in for a surprise on Tuesday. For the first time, they got appreciation for wearing helmets and seat belts and those who did not were too presented with a token of advice but in Gandhigiri style.
City-based NGO Divam Khula Aasman is now on the job to distribute yellow smileys to people at busy traffic signals. The smileys are both for those who follow rules and those who do not. While messages in Hindi and English have been printed on them, volunteers ensure that the token of concern and love is given with a smile on their own face.
The messages read: Someone is waiting for you at home; thank you for wearing helmet; thank you for wearing a seat belt; you are born for a purpose, live for it; and shukriya seat belt pehanane ke liye. The NGO is on a mission to distribute at least 7,000 smileys till July 20, and is targeting areas like Bharat Nagar Chowk and Hero Bakery Chowk which witness heavy jams.
Voila Aditya Kapur, a trustee of NGO, said, “Traffic police talks with a stick, we talk with a smile. We are sure it will make a difference. We got this idea from movie Lage Raho Munnabhai but instead of giving flowers, we decided to give something that can be kept forever.”
Source: The Indian Express
Government open to buying equity in highway projects, puts PPPs on hold
July 16, 2014
The NDA government has also decided to put all public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the road sector on hold for two to three years as just a few infrastructure firms have any capacity to invest in new projects.
Most developers are either restructuring their debts or are saddled with projects that have turned into non-performing assets.
“Today, the country has just 4-5 developers who are not in CDR (corporate debt restructuring) or in NPA lists. For the rest, band baaja baj gaya hai, aisi haalat hai (they are in a shambles)… So the PPP model is not possible at all,” said highways, road transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, Instead, the focus would be on new highway building through EPC, or engineering, procurement and construction, contracts for which the government foots the bill.
“Most players want to pay a 1 per cent fine to abandon their projects and run away. I have told them, I will levy a 10 per cent penalty and blacklist
The four big reasons that projects are stuck, the minister said, were land acquisition, forest and environmental clearances, defence land tracts on highway alignments and delays in clearances for rail overbridges from the railways.
The road ministry is also creating a shelf of road projects worth Rs 2-3 lakh crore for which it would initiate work on obtaining green clearances and land along with detailed project reports,so that they can bid out as the sector revives.
Six-laning work of NH45 begins
July 15, 2014
DEEPA H. RAMAKRISHNAN
Preparatory work has commenced for the six-laning of a 93-km stretch on the Chennai-Tiruchi highway (NH45) from Tambaram to Tindivanam.
According to sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the consultant has begun preparing the land plan schedule that identifies government and private lands. The consultant is also drawing up the estimate for shifting of utilities along the road that is used by over 90,000 vehicles a day.
The process including enumeration of trees along the road will take two years. “Since the concessionaire has a contract to build, operate and transfer the road for a period of 17.5 years, which is till November 2019, the NHAI will take a call as to when the work can be taken up,” explained an official. Work to widen the road into a four-lane facility began in May 2002 and was completed in October 2004 when tolling began.
A decision will also be taken regarding widening of the urban stretches upto Tambaram. “We have to take into consideration various factors including the Chennai Outer Ring Road that takes off from Vandalur, the railway track running on one side of the road and the densely populated urban stretch. Land acquisition will be a major issue in these areas,” he said.
R. Samban, who recently travelled by the NH45 to Tiruchi, said that the lighting could be improved on some stretches. “Some of the curves are quite sharp. During the widening, care must be taken to improve visibility at these points. The NHAI must also ensure that trees along the road are not cut but transplanted,” he said.
Source-http://www.thehindu.com/
RTC buoyed by BRTS trial run
July 15, 2014
G. V. PRASADA SARMA
Ready to run 55 buses exclusively on the corridors. However, for fully operationalising services on the Simhachalam and Pendurti corridors there are bottlenecks.
APSRTC is ready to fully operationalise services on the BRTS corridors under the special purpose vehicle (SPV) if the bottlenecks are cleared and the entire stretch is handed over to it.
The nearly one-and-a-half-year trial on 22 km of BRTS corridors has shown results with improved parameters.
Early this year, top RTC officials stated that for the previous six months the average number of passengers carried per day had increased from 1.35 lakh to 1.41 lakh. Besides, fuel efficiency had increased from 5.1 KMPL to 5.92 KMPL, overall punctuality had improved from 86 per cent to 95 per cent and occupancy ratio by 3 per cent.
However, for fully operationalising services on the Simhachalam and Pendurti corridors there are bottlenecks.
“We are ready to run 55 buses exclusively on the corridors under SPV and additional buses beyond the corridors if the bottlenecks are cleared,” says RTC Deputy Chief Traffic Manager (Urban) of Visakhapatnam A. Veeraiah Chowdary.
On the Simhachalam and Pendurti corridors, certain stretches are still to be handed over. Particularly Kancharapalem and Baji Junction on the Pendurti corridor and Gosala to Simhachalam on the Simhachalam corridor the bottlenecks are to be cleared, he says. The stretch between Gosala and Simhachalam has been hanging fire owing to land acquisition problems. RTC is running buses beyond the corridors up to Kottavalasa and Chodavaram but on the service roads where the work has to be completed, he says.
Total cost
Pendurti-Dwarakanagar corridor via NAD Junction runs for 23.24 km and the Simhachalam corridor runs from Pendurti to Dwarakanagar via Simhachalam, Adavivaram covering 20.12 km. Sources in GVMC say so far 32 km of work on both the corridor has been completed. The total cost including flyover at Asilmetta is estimated at Rs.454.73 crore.
Source-http://www.thehindu.com/
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