PUNE: A group of researchers and urban planners in the city are working to define road hierarchy for better roads and traffic management with an online survey available on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the group’s websites.The civic body has mooted the initiative to get the roads in the city designed by architects and urban designers. The group called Sustainability Initiative (SI) is coordinating the online survey.

“Urban streets are related to urban sustainability. We are working with the civic body on developing the ‘Urban Street Design Guidelines’. These guidelines will serve as the base document for designers and decision makers,” said Shraddha Zende, programme coordinator, on Wednesday.

The guidelines will consider technical and physical aspects of the city. Many codes and case studies are being referred to. The road department, traffic police, Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited, NGOs and related authorities are being consulted to recommend street designs.

Team member Nikhil Mijar said the group has decided to involve people in the consultation process to understand their opinions and expectations. “A well-designed street is where small children and the old people feel safe to walk, where all road users get equitable rights of use. To bring about this change, it is important to know what people want and expect from the streets,” he said.

Dwaipayan Chakravarty, another team member for the project, said the group will also work on defining the road hierarchy according to usage and utility. “The city lacks planned development. So the group will try to categorise the roads as per the hierarchy based on its size, traffic movement, location and width. The categories like arterial roads, feeder corridors, local streets and special streets will help manage traffic and other activities on the road.”

What is road hierarchy?

It makes a difference between roads according to their function

At the top of the rung are arterial routes that carry high volumes of through traffic

Roads at the lower rung of the road hierarchy have importance at the local level, like access to local places and may have lesser vehicles

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NAVI MUMBAI: The new flyover project to connect Nerul east to west near the railway station recently got the civic body’s nod.A budget of Rs28.24 crore has been allocated for the civic project and tenders for the construction will be floated soon.

The flyover will connect sectors 21 and 28 between Nerul police station and Terna Institute on the Seawood end of railway station.

Residents have been demanding this flyover for a long time. This link will reduce the travelling time of the people from both sides in the node. Currently, the residents risk their lives by crossing the railway tracks to cut down on time.

“It’s good news for the locals. If we want to cross from east to west, we have to take longer route via the Rajiv Gandhi flyover at the Juinagar end or use the Seawoods flyover at the CBD end. The distance between these two flyovers is 4km,” said Rajesh Poojary, a local resident.

The general body of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) recently gave its nod to float tenders and issue work order.

“The whole process of floating tenders and issuing the work order will be around three months and the project has a deadline of 18 months after commencement. The technical details and blueprint are yet to be chalked out. This will solve the travelling woes of the people residing in this node,” said an official.

The flyover will be used for light vehicles and have footpaths on both sides. Cars, auto-rickshaws, three-wheeler tempos and motorcycles will be allowed to ply on this flyover.

The Rajiv Gandhi and Seawoods flyovers will continue to be used by the heavy vehicles. “This will be the third flyover in Nerul ,” said an officer.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

 Source-http://newindianexpress.com

 

NAGPUR: The citizens will have to continue facing potholes and bad roads till December or even January. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) standing committee chairman Avinash Thakre on Monday accepted that his plans to asphalt all roads by Diwali had failed but blamed the administration for delay.The standing committee in its meeting on Monday okayed Rs 30.35 crore for repairing 63 city roads. Thakre said it would take at least 63 days for issuing work orders to the private contractors. “Tendering process will be started followed by zeroing in on qualified contractors. Then the proposals to seek approval for issuing the work orders will come before the standing committee followed by issuing work orders. The contractors will start work after completing formalities. Therefore, the works may start only by December,” he said.

Tbout pending road works worth Rs 70 crore, Thakre said the standing committee was yet to receive the proposals for administrative approval. “These works are of interior roads. I will talk about them only after receiving the proposals,” he said. NMC sources said works on remaining roads will be delayed even more. “They will start only by January 2014,” they said.

Thakre blamed municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane for latter’s failure to pursue the proposals. “Proposals could come for approval on Monday only due to initiative taken by me. I inspected all roads personally and pursued the proposals. Why civic chief could not ensure that proposals came for approval in time,” he asked.

Thakre also came down heavily on the state government for not sanctioning funds for repairing damage caused by floods. “Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced Rs 100 crore compensation for damage to roads and other infrastructure. We are still waiting for the funds. I think the CM is just busy cutting ribbons,” he said.

About contractors refusing to repair roads under defect liability period, Thakre said six roads under defect liability period got damaged. “I have given clear directives to the administration to get the work done from respective contractors. No relaxation will be given on the ground of heavy rains,” he said. He added that approval was also given to other works related to roads like repairing of road-dividers, construction of storm water drains etc.

About financial loss due to delay in Rahatekarwadi bridge, Thakre said, “NMC will bear additional expense due to increase in scope of works. It was engineers and consultant did not prepare the proposal properly. Action will be taken against those responsible,” he said.

Thakre also announced a medical insurance scheme for the poor and said 12,722 families would benefit by it. “Medical assistance of Rs 30,000 and life insurance of Rs 25,000 will be provided. There are 98,696 BPL families in the city. More families will be covered under the scheme if applications come in,” he said.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com