NEW DELHI: Good news for pedestrians, joggers and cyclists: the PWD has taken an ‘American route’ to beautify and redesign a major portion of the road stretches in the national capital. Pre-construction work on the much awaited project has begun.
On the lines of ‘American standards’, ‘streetscaping, beautification and road redesigning’ will cover 500 km of 162 stretches. The estimated cost of civil construction for the proposed 500-km is around Rs 5,000 crore. The makeover is one of the poll promises of the Arvind Kejriwal government. Last year it was only a pilot project on 10 stretches.
Later the CM went a step further, promising to make Delhi a world-class city. The project’s key objective was to pedestrianise and decongest passages and making even roads with proper geometric designs.
“Tenders have been floated in multiple packages for consultancy work and for preparing a detailed project report on ‘streetscaping’. The work will start by next year. The aim is to complete the project in three years (2023). The CM is personally monitoring the project,” said a senior PWD official.
Most roads in the national capital are badly uneven due to encroachments, haphazard parking and the resultant traffic congestion, leaving no space for pedestrians. The PWD proposes to design the roads as per the length and Right of Way (RoW) of roads or width of the roads. In Delhi, total 81.75 km of roads have 60 metres of RoW, 91.91 km of roads have 45-60 metres of RoW and 174.99 km of roads have 30-45 metres of RoW. “Under the feasibility study, the roads will be surveyed to check the space available, traffic volume, number of vehicles, pedestrians and Non Motor Vehicles (NMVs) using it.
A detailed design will then be made for redesigning, streetscaping and beautification of roads,” said the official. The roads will get American style makeover with pedestrian and disabled-friendly footpaths, service roads, separate lanes for NMV, cycle tracks, central verge, proper street lighting, bus stops/ bus bays, parking areas, road marking and public amenities. Conveniences will also include ‘Aam Aadmi canteens’, police booths, kiosks, community libraries, Mohalla Clinics, parking for police and emergency vehicles, drinking water points and street vending zones.