VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has identified nine roads under its ambit for the execution of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), a form of compact, pedestrian and non-motorised vehicle-friendly development that promotes mixed land use along the mass transit corridors in the urban areas.
According to the VMC officials, a couple of weeks ago, the department of municipal administration and urban development issued the Andhra Pradesh Transit Oriented Development Policy, 2022, based on the Union government’s National Transit Oriented Development Policy.
Instructions were given to the respective local bodies to come up with action plans in a month to implement the TOD to improve major roads in the cities and towns.
In Vijayawada, the officials have identified nine roads for the execution of the project, which include BRTS Road, stretch between Eat Street and Benz Circle on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Crambay Road (Bhavanipuram), Hyderabad Bypass Road, Nunna-Nuzvid Road, Andhra Prabha Colony Road, Outer Ring Road, stretch between Currency Nagar Main Road to APIIC Colony on High Tension Road and stretch
between Benz Circle and Ramavarappadu Junction on NH-16.
A senior VMC official said that the TOD concept is aimed at discouraging motorised vehicles and encouraging walking, use of public transportation and cycling. In this regard, the civic body has already begun the exercise of developing cycle tracks in the city to make the citizens fit and healthy.
A series of meetings were held with the bicycle associations and city police personnel for materialising the project.