Rajiv Chowk made pedestrian friendly, trial starts today

Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ), a joint team of public and private road safety experts, started work on redesigning Rajiv Chowk, which has a daily pedestrian footfall

Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ), a joint team of public and private road safety experts, started work on redesigning Rajiv Chowk, which has a daily pedestrian footfall of over 20,000 people, around 11.30pm Wednesday using barricades, traffic cones, jersey barriers and paints to demarcate space and make the intersection safer for pedestrian movement.

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The redesigning, which includes creating walkways under the flyover and safety islands, would be complete by early Thursday morning, said HVZ officials who are redesigning the junction in association with World Resources Institute (WRI), a research organisation.

“We are making the junction compact from all sides by creating dedicated waiting space for pedestrians—enclosed by jersey barriers and traffic cones—to give a layer of protection from vehicles. In addition, we are painting a dedicated path on the road so pedestrians can cross the junction,” HVZ project associate Ishan Gogoi said.

HVZ officials said traffic marshals will also be deployed at the junction to help people cross the main carriageway by stopping the approaching traffic and, in the interim, pedestrians can wait at the safety islands.

Two major roads networks—the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and Sohna Road—converge at Rajiv Chowk aside from important places such as district courts, police commissionerate, mini secretariat, and Tau Devi Lal Stadium. In addition, buses heading to south Haryana and Rajasthan also stop here.

The need for redesigning the chowk was felt as few pedestrians use the foot overbridges and the subway because of their poor placement and lack of lighting. They are forced to endanger their lives by crossing the six-lane road against high-speed traffic of the expressway or Sohna Road, leading to a high number of pedestrian accidents at the junction.

As per HVZ data, there were 21 pedestrian fatalities recorded at this junction between 2016 and 2019, the second highest at any junction in the city. There were five pedestrian fatalities recorded in 2016, seven in 2017, nine in 2018 and two in 2019.

“Depending on the success of the trial, a decision will be taken on making the road design a permanent feature,” Gogoi said, adding that approval for the trial was given during a district road safety meeting on February 3.

In July and August last year, HVZ had also carried out similar trials at Shankar Chowk and Bakhtawar Chowk, respectively. Both the trials lasted less than a week.

However, on Wednesday, HVZ officials said Rajiv Chowk redesigning has been carried out in consultation with the traffic police and the design which had minimum impact on traffic was selected.