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Chandigarh MC remodelling six rotaries to reduce road casualties
Six roundabouts in Chandigarh are being renovated as part of a pilot project on recommendation of the Road Safety Council
Work is underway in the city to remodel six roundabouts as per the latest directives of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) so as to reduce fatalities due to road mishaps.
The roundabouts being upgraded include the Sector 14/15/24/25 roundabout, Sector 15/16/23/24 roundabout, Sector 36/37/41/42 roundabout, Sector 37/38/40/41 roundabout, Sector 19/27/20/30 roundabout and Sector 31/32/46/47 roundabout.
Road safety expert and member of the council Navdeep Asija, who had mooted the renovations during a Road Safety Council meeting in November 2021, said, “The concept was first introduced in the bell corridor in Panchkula. This was done three years ago by then deputy commissioner Rajesh Jogpal. The main roads in Panchkula form a bell shape and at least one death per roundabout was reported every year. There have been no deaths since the renovations were carried out.”
On the features of the upgraded roundabouts, Asija said, “The roundabouts will not be symmetrical, forcing motorists to enter from a sharper angle and slow down. The exit angle will be wider to prevent traffic bottlenecks. The height of the roundabout will be lowered so that in case of an accident a two wheeler is not sandwiched between the roundabout and the vehicle hitting them. This will bring down the fatality rate. Rather than hard concrete the roundabout will also be made ‘softer’ towards the edges with paver blocks to reduce the impact in case of a mishap.
“As per research, roundabouts are responsible for a 70% decrease in road mishaps, and 40-45% reduction in fatalities,” he said.
Senior officials of the municipal corporation confirmed that work had started on all six roundabouts, which will take around two months to finish.
MC commissioner Anandita Mitra said, “The roundabouts are being renovated as a pilot project as a road safety measure and to maintain the structure of roundabouts, which frequently break during accidents. Work is being executed as per standard drawing issued by the UT chief architect wherein height of the outer periphery, which is six feet in width, is being reduced from 2 feet 3 inches to 8 inches to reduce the impact of vehicular collision. There is no change size of rotary, and therefore the traffic volume carrying capacity will remain unaffected.”
Senior superintendent of police (SSP, traffic) Manisha Choudhary said, “This issue was raised during the last road safety council meeting. We have also recommended some new roundabouts at vulnerable spots where traffic violations are more common at night as they force motorists to slow down.
