Smart road project hangs in balance in Cuttack
CUTTACK: The much-hyped smart road project in Cuttack may never see the light of the day as the realisation dawns on the civic body authorities that the city’s inherent features are not conducive to the purpose.
The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) had decided to develop five stretches as smart roads on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi road in Bengaluru. The CMC had planned to construct five smart roads each stretching for 1 km on Dolamundai- Nandi Sahi, Mahanadi Vihar, Badhei Sahi under ward no 56 and two in CDA. Sources said Rs 5 crore to Rs 8 crore will be spent on each smart road.
As per reports, five engineers of the civic body had visited Bengaluru on September 13 and studied the smart road. They studied the provisions for motorists and pedestrians with advanced scientific facilities including smart signalling, light-controlled crossing for pedestrians, digital information boards, smart dustbins, smart parking systems on both sides of the road.
However, at the end of their trip, they are now finding it difficult to replicate the model in Cuttack roads. The city dotted with narrow lanes connecting thickly populated ‘sahis’ (residential areas) does not afford the space nor features for such wide-ranging alterations or modernisation.
The civic body officials said they will convey the problems in implementation of the smart road to the State government.