NEW DELHI: A skywalk connecting Dangal Maidan parking and Old Delhi Railway Station and additional green cover will be among several features planned to spruce up Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (SPM) Marg in the Walled city area.
The detail project report (DPR) for design improvement of SPM Marg also has provisions for separate lanes for non-motorised vehicles (NMVs), wider pavements for unhindered pedestrian movement, and a designated area for the hawkers.
The DPR has been accorded in-principle approval by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, which will be executing the project.
The project including the redevelopment of Dangal Maidan parking opposite the railway station will be implemented in two phases. Under phase I, authorities will take up the improvement of the road and the parking and skywalk will be part of phase II.
A senior official of the government, privy to the project, said that a few additions were suggested in the DPR prepared by the private consultant in the SRDC’s board meeting held last week.
“In Dangal Maidan Parking, maximum commercial space as per the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021 may be created, for which additional floors will be added within the permissible height, to make the project financially viable.
The width of the proposed ‘U’ shape skywalk, connecting the parking facility with Railway Station and Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) zone, may be increased from six metres to nine metres so that space for kiosks or carts is available for vendors,” said the official.
The SPM Marg improvement project has been on the agenda of the authorities for more than a decade, however, it couldn’t be executed in totality earlier.
The work to improve the central verges and footpaths was to begin in 2010 around the Commonwealth Games but only a corridor for slowing non-motorised vehicles (NMVs) — cycle rickshaws and hand carts — was built.
“A set of staircases of the skywalk is proposed inside the railway station campus to link the facility with the Foot over Bridge (FoB) there. Varieties of plants with three-metre height are to be planted along the stretch,” said the official.
The plan will now be sent to Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre for final approval, which is mandatory, added the official.
One of the arterial stretches in the walled city, SPM Marg along the old Delhi railway station is an important link for rail travellers and customers coming to wholesale markets in its vicinity.