GMDA to tie-up with DLF to build five pedestrian bridges on Golf Course Road

Almost four years after Golf Course Road (GCR) was redesigned to facilitate smooth movement of traffic, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and DLF

Almost four years after Golf Course Road (GCR) was redesigned to facilitate smooth movement of traffic, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and DLF are together planning to construct five pedestrian bridges on a 5.5km-long stretch of the road, said officials on Friday.

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In 2017, the 10km stretch between Ghata T-point and Shankar Chowk — including the seven-kilometre-long GCR — was redesigned to make it a signal-free, along with seven underpasses. Soon after its opening, the stretch came under criticism from road safety experts on the lack of pedestrian amenities and high-speed collisions.

Apart from staircases and escalators of the four Rapid Metro stations on the stretch, there is no other pedestrian amenity to cross from one side of the GCR to the other. Despite the entire median being fenced, hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists either jump over the fencing or use the gaps between them to cross the thoroughfare against high-speed traffic daily.

The five spots for the construction of pedestrian bridges on the 5.5km stretch between Bristol Chowk and AIT Chowk, along Raghvendra Marg on GCR are as follows: Bristol Chowk, MPD Tower, Paras Downtown, Vipul Belmonte and Time Tower.

GMDA has now put up the proposal on its official website for public feedback. Officials said that as per the design plans, the pedestrian bridges have been planned in such a manner that it would ensure that pedestrians have a facility to cross GCR after a distance of every 400 metres.

JS Sindhu, engineer, traffic, GMDA, said that the plan is to build pedestrian bridges with escalators to ensure that people can cross the road with ease. “The bridges will help people cross the road safely. These are being built at locations, which have large number of pedestrians crossing the road. The commuters will have the option to take the help of a pedestrian bridge within 350 to 400 metres on either side,” Sindhu said, adding that a joint team of officials from different agencies had conducted an inspection of the sites and the proposal has also been uploaded on GMDA website for public feedback.

On Wednesday, a joint team of GMDA, Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), Gurugram Police, and Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) also visited each of the five spots to analyse if the existing project designs are in sync with the requirements on-ground and to take a stock of utilities that may come in the way of the project. The team members will now give their respective feedbacks to DLF for implementation.

Officials of DLF, the caretaker of GCR, said that barring Bristol Chowk, where the length of the bridge is proposed to be 450 metres, all the remaining bridges would be 350 metres in length, with elevators on each ends.

Each pedestrian bridge is expected to cost around ₹3.5 crore, and the total project cost is expected to be around ₹15 crore, with DLF proposing the construction of the bridges as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.

DLF officials further said that four of the five bridges would be constructed by DLF while the one at Bristol Chowk would be constructed by GMDA. However, the construction costs would be borne by DLF.

“Our teams carried out a survey of Raghvendra Marg, based on which we decided to construct pedestrian bridges on all black spots along the stretch. We have submitted a proposal to GMDA, and they are currently seeking no -objection certificates (NOCs) from concerned public departments regarding the utilities coming in the way of the project. Once DLF gets approval from GMDA, construction will commence immediately and the project will be completed in six to seven months,” said Gayatri Paul, director, programmes, DLF foundation.

After finding inadequate pedestrian amenities on GCR, the district administration’s road safety committee had recommended the implementation of pedestrian-friendly measures at eight key crossings on the GCR in July last year.

As per a Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ) report, pedestrians and cyclists account for 45% of all road fatalities on GCR. Between 2017 and 2019, there have been 40 road fatalities recorded on GCR of which, 14 were pedestrians, four cyclists, two four-wheeler users, 17 two-wheeler users, and three three-wheeler users.

“A high volume of cyclists use GCR every day. Authorities, therefore, need to ensure that the five proposed bridges are designed in such a manner that cyclists too can avail them. Similar to the pedestrian bridges in Delhi, the proposed bridges here should be designed with slopes instead of a staircase as it will not only allow cyclists to use the infrastructure but also be wheelchair-friendly,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt, program coordinator, Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ).