Green lungs for city flyovers

Bored with drab, grey concrete flyovers springing all over the Capital? The Delhi government has come up with a green solution.

Bored with drab, grey concrete flyovers springing all over the Capital? The Delhi government has come up with a green solution.

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By the time the Commonwealth Games start in October 2010, Delhi would be rich by 70 flyovers of varying shapes and sizes.

The Delhi government has come to the conclusion that though this would make traffic movement smoother, the concrete leviathans might not be really easy on the eye.

The plan is to plant trees along the pillars of flyovers and develop greenery over the flyover too, along the carriageways on both sides. The greenery is expected to completely envelop the pillars and look as if the flyovers are situated on trees.

‘The pillars below the flyovers would be covered with greenery and the pillars would have a look identical to trees,” a government statement said.

‘This would add to the aesthetic value of the city during Commonwealth Games,” it said.

A presentation of the green plan was made before Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday at Delhi Secretariat where Secretary (PWD), Chairman of New Delhi Municipal Council and Secretary (Environment) were also present.

Experts said the plan has both its pros and cons. “It is a very good idea to improve greenery in the city which is conducive to environment and would also help to keep pollution at bay,” said P K Sarkar, head of the department of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture.

“However, this would pose a problem at night when there is not enough illumination available,” he said.

“Due to the greenery on the side or the median, motorists wouldn’t be able to gauge the exact width of road space available with lane markings not properly visible. They would have to keep a safe distance from the edges and this would lead to wastage of space.”