Delhi committed to reforms in road infrastructure, says Sisodia

The Delhi government’s road redesign project, PWD minister Satyendar Jain said, is aimed at developing streets in Delhi at par with international standards

The Delhi government is known for its reforms in the education and health sector, but it is equally committed to the infrastructure improvement, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday at a global workshop .

The workshop, being organised by Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, state government’s think tank, in partnership with WRI India, is an attempt by the Delhi government to learn from global examples such as Seoul, Singapore and New York as it begins work on redesigning 540km of road network in the capital. The city government will look at how these cities transformed streets in a short span, and mitigated challenges such as building consensus to reduce space for cars on roads.

Singapore’s 45-minute city master plan; London’s ambitious streetscape plan to develop temporary cycle lanes and low traffic neighbourhood and Seoul’s bold move to demolish flyovers or turn them into dedicated cycling corridors were some of the ideas discussed by experts at the workshop.

Apart from international cities, experts from Indian cities also shared details about street redesign projects executed in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

“The government is currently identified with its social reforms in education and health sector, and it is committed to focus on infrastructural reforms and road redesigning with similar vigour,” Sisodia said.

The Delhi government’s road redesign project, PWD minister Satyendar Jain said, is aimed at developing streets in Delhi at par with international standards.

One of the key challenges before any government agency executing such a project is building public consensus to shrink car space to provide pedestrian pathways and cycling tracks. Sisodia asked experts about how these global cities went about addressing this issue.

Shashi Verma, director of strategy and chief technology officer at Transport for London (TfL), said, that large scale public consultation is essential and governments have to play a proactive role in giving voice to public transport users, who are in substantial numbers.

Alex Williams, director of city planning at TfL, said London has focused on increasing the use of bicycles and buses. He said effort have been made to make buses more reliable and consistent with 24-hour operations, which has reduced the traffic congestions due to private motor vehicles and made roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

Experts from New York, Singapore, Bogota, Seoul said large scale public consultation has been an important factor in their transformation journey.

Sharing that Seoul places public transport and pedestrian mobility as top priority areas in its transport policy, GyengChul KIM, CEO DMROC, said that political will and support from the leadership are significant to redesign and implement such a transformative program. He said flyovers have been demolished in Seoul to provide pedestrian friendly infrastructure.

Experts said that a good integrated public transport system is essential for the success of road redesign projects.

Ong Eu-Gene, Director at Land Transport Authority, Singapore, shared the island city-state’s decision to be a “car-lite” nation and how it implemented the road repurposing project. He also spoke about the land transport master plan-2040, which was prepared in 2019, that focuses on making Singapore a 45-minute city. He said “Rail network is the backbone of the nation’s public transport system to enable the 45-minute city.”

Jasmine Shah, vice-chairman of DDC Delhi, said most of these cities have managed to transform their streets in a short span of 15-20 years. “All of them cited political leadership as critical to making the transformation happen. Under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi government is determined to building world-class streets in the national capital.”

While experts spoke on the need for traffic calming measures, upgradation of street infrastructure, dedicated pedestrian pathways and cycling corridors, Michael Replogle, former deputy commissioner of policy, New York City Department of Transportation, stressed on the need to integrate data driven processes in redesigning roads, recording progress and revising yearly priorities.

Sharing the example of New York’s Speed Camera Program, he said most vehicles that received penalty for one traffic violation, did not receive another within a calendar year in areas where the program was implemented. He said speed limit restrict and strong enforcement and data driven technology has played a significant role bringing down road fatalities.

Dario Hidalgo, senior transportation consultant in Bogota, said that Delhi could learn from Bogota’s initiatives, as the two cities have similar population density.

In India, too, cities have started work on transforming streets. Jana Urban Space (Jana USP), a sister concern of Janaagraha, present the work done by them with help from government agencies in redesigning 229kms of road infrastructure in Bengaluru and three other cities.

During the conference, Jana Urban Space presented the TENDER SURE project being currently implemented to redesign 50km of roads in Bengaluru in collaboration with BBMP. Officials from Mumbai also participated in the programme and shared details of their experiences in setting up the Mumbai Street Lab to implement design interventions in road redevelopment.