Standardised design for footpaths in city soon

The civic body has decided to standardise the design of all footpaths and signages of shops across the city with an aim to revamp the public spaces and make them

The civic body has decided to standardise the design of all footpaths and signages of shops across the city with an aim to revamp the public spaces and make them pedestrian-friendly.

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The decision was taken in a meeting headed by municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on Tuesday.

To improve pedestrianisation, footpaths across the city will be redesigned with a uniform signage board, street furniture (dustbins, benches, poles) and bus stands, officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

A civic official said, “The size of the boards on the shops on a footpath should be of equal size and must not look uneven from any angle.”

Civic officials said that the focus of the meeting was enhancing aesthetics by redesigning footpaths and giving a better look to the streets.

HT had earlier reported that BMC had decided on standardised footpaths and signages around shops on a pilot basis at MG Road in Fort. BMC said the pilot project has been successful, and wanted to replicate the model across the city.

The standardisation of the design will involve minimising signages and making them uniform for all commercial establishments, including restaurants and offices, and clearing hawkers from non-hawking zones.

Along with footpaths, roads also will have a uniformed length and width.

“We can select a patch of a particular road or a footpath and then decide to have a uniform length and width to it, following which standardisation of boards and street furniture can be decided. For standardising boards around shops in the city, BMC’s license department will have to work on the design and come up with a standard design.”

Meanwhile, the municipal commissioner also asked civic officials to ensure that the security in public gardens and open spaces are upgraded.

He has asked officials to replace the compound walls of the gardens with railings for better visibility. Civic officials said this idea was mooted by activists previously and BMC is exploring its feasibility now. The officials of the traffic and licence departments, as well as ward officers have been asked to chalk out the plans to implement this move across all city gardens.