Some Thoughts on

Infrastructure for Sustainable Mobility @Udaipur

ByAshutosh Nirvadyaachari,FOOT BY FOOT,Udaipur

“Foot By Foot” is against:

Construction of New Flyovers

Development of Elevated Roads

Continuous Widening of Roads

Encroachment of Footpaths & Parking spaces.

Destruction / Narrowing of Footpaths for the purpose

of road-widening.

WHY? …..

“Foot By Foot” is for:

Development of Infrastructure for Sustainable Mobility.

Development of exclusive Cycling-Tracks, Biking Highways, Bike-lanes; wide, safe & inviting Footpaths, Multi-utility Corridors etc.

Development of economical, comfortable & reliable Public Transport, Bike-sharing Models etc.

WHY?.....

Motor-Vehicle Ownership is NOTSustainable

India has the Highest Casualty Rate for

people on the road. No. 1 in World !!!

Over 1,50,000 people die due to accidents

from motorized vehicles, 1.5 million are

hospitalized & 7 million people suffer minor

injuries every year.

67% who die are from 18-50 yr. age group.

Estimated Economic Loss: Rs. 550 billion p.a.

i.e. 3% of India’s Total GDP [Source: WHO, 2009].

Motor-Vehicle Ownership is NOTSustainable

Energy consumption in Indian urban

transport will grow from 1.6 EJ in 2000 to 6.1

EJ in 2030 if current trends towards auto-

mobility prevail. (Schipper, Banerjee and Ng )

25% of this energy could be saved if Indian

cities shift their trajectory to a more

sustainable pattern.

Vehicular emission causes 4 to 8 times

increase in Bronchitis patients.

Ponder over a few Questions:

How much WIDE Road is enough wide:

2-lane, 4-lane, 10-lane, 12-lane???

What should be the MAX speed of travel:

20 or 30 kmph, or 40/60/100/150/180? Want

to compete with Light or Time?!!!

How many vehicles are sufficient for a city of

1 million population to meet its transportation

requirements? Can our road infrastructure

support that?

All developments aim to increase vehicular speed! What speed is JUST ENOUGH for city mobility?

Compare a collision @30km/h to one @50km/h.

Average speed of a driver @N.Y. 6.4-7.9 mph, @London

is 19 kmph, Delhi @15 km/h, @Chennai 18 km/h,

Mumbai @15-20 km/h, Kolkatta @ 10-18 km/h. [IRC, 2009]

Average speed of a cyclist is 15-20 km/h & a pedestrian

is 5 km/h.

Traffic calming measures @London restrict the max

speed of all vehicles @20 km/h

2/3rd of Udaipur’s working population is engaged in

Tourism Industry which calls for leisurely paced

movements.

.

Some Facts:

World’s widest road is 22 lanes wide and yet

congested! (King’s Highway 401 @Toronto)

The largest Toll plaza in South-Asia has 36 lanes

and still infamous for its congestion! (Delhi-Gurgaon

Expressway)

21% of Delhi’s area is covered by motor-ways & yet

insufficient!

Udaipur has 1400 acres of developed land for

transportation and further development of 3150

acres for motorized transport is envisaged under the

Master Plan 2031.

Road Occupancy Comparison: 69Cyclists,60Private Cars1CityBus

Recreation of Muenster Photo @Canberra for 69 road users

Modal Split at UdaipurSource: Wilbur Smith Associates and Ministry of Urban Development (2008)

Modal Share in %age

Walking (32%)

Cycling (20%)

Pub. Transport / Auto(12%)

2 Wheelers (24%)

Cars 12%

Social Injustice (Inequitable allocation of Budget):

Walking & Cycling constitutes more than half the

share of commuting public on the road.

Whereas private vehicles make only 1/3rd of the

share.

But Policies & Fund Allocation in Budget always

favour motorists.

Urban-poor comprises the majority. Despite of this,

much of the Transport infrastructure fund is spent for

elite class mobility.

Cars & 2-Wheelers are highly subsidized compared

to Public Transport. [Lindberg 2002, Sen 2005, PEG 2008]

Move People, NOT Cars:

National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP, 2006) is

against development of Flyovers and prioritizes the

infrastructure development for NMT & Public Transport.

A gap in planning and implementation: Even after

NUTP has been adopted, changes have not been

observed in the investment pattern of the local

authorities. It violates the basic principles of the NUTP

& JnNURM.

According to the JnNURM strategy, transport

infrastructure projects should comply with the

objectives of NUTP.

Flyovers are Populist Measures

Unfriendly to negotiate by Bikers & Pedestrians.

Unfriendly for Public Transport as it by-passes the

city area.

People need to walk over 1Km to change-over a

Public Transport at Junctions / crossings.

The Rebound Effect: A large portion (50-100%) of

the new roadway capacity is absorbed by Induced

Traffic after three years of operation (Noland and Len,

2000).

Flyovers are ugly structures destroying the skyline of

buildings & monuments it bypasses.

U – Turn: Learn from the World

Flyovers, freeways and elevated roads have not

been able to resolve road congestion in any city

across the world.

In many cities, elevated roads and flyovers are now

being dismantled as they have failed to reduce traffic

congestion.

The focus has now shifted on narrowing the roads,

widening the sidewalks, improving public

transportation and giving highest priority to walking

and cycling.

Some International Examples:

Seoul replaced its 9.5km long flyover with boulevard park

to decongest traffic.

Portland in USA razed down Harbor Drive freeway and

converted it into a 37 acre park.

Denver, San Francisco, Boston, Milwaukee,Trenton,

Portland and Chattanooga, Vancouver and Toronto too

pulled down their Elevated Highways to create space for

pedestrians.

Bristol demolished its City Centre flyover in 1997 and now

rebuilding it exclusively for cyclists.

Melbourne and Auckland also razed down some of their

flyovers.

Flyovers are Man-made Disasters

Flyovers are a Waste of Tax-Payers’ Money.

Capital & Time invested to erect them do not justify the

temporary relief, if any.

Cities like San Francisco, Portland, Milwaukee, Seoul etc.

had to re-invest to dismantle their flyovers & elevated

roads.

1982: Delhi had 5 flyovers, Now: 74, Traffic status:

Congested. Result: PWD is preparing a New Plan for

decongesting traffic!

The government increases road space to decongest the

existing traffic. But new roads end up attracting more

traffic.

Road-Widening, Elevated Roads, Flyovers etc. paradoxically increase Congestion

Braess's paradox shows that adding road

capacity might make congestion worse even if

demand does not increase. This is because the

Nash equilibrium of such a system is not

necessarily optimal.

Some Practical Proofs for Braess’s Paradox:

Seoul: A speeding-up in traffic around the city was seen

when a motorway was removed as part of the

Cheonggyecheon restoration project.

Stuttgart (Germany): After investments into the road

network in 1969, the traffic situation did not improve until

a section of newly built road was closed for traffic again.

New York (U.S.A.): In 1990 the closing of 42nd street

reduced the amount of congestion in the area.

In 2008 Youn, Gastner and Jeong demonstrated specific

routes in Boston, New York City and London and

pointed out roads that could be closed to reduce

predicted travel times.

Why Roads Should NOT be Widened?

Wide roads & flyovers increases the speed of the

vehicles. High speed traffic is dangerous & fatal for

motorists & other road users too.

Pedestrians find difficult to cross wider roads.

Roads are being widened by demolishing footpaths

& cycle tracks. Footpaths are the first casualty of

road-widening.

Wide roads are not eco-friendly. They make ground-

water recharging impossible. Several trees too are

cut down.

Induced Traffic in 3 years renders the effort futile.

Fundamental Law of Road CongestionThe American Economic Review (2011) Study by London School of Economics & University of Toronto

No. of vehicle-kilometers traveled (VKT)

increases in direct proportion to the available

lane-kilometers of roadways.

The implication is that building new roads

and widening existing ones only results in

additional traffic that continues to rise until

peak congestion returns to the previous level

Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect:

The annual mean air temperature of a city with 1

million people can be 1–3°C warmer than its

surroundings. In the evening, the difference can be

as high as 12°C.

Introduce Cool Pavements. Permeable pavements

with pores & high thermal emissivity.

Bitumen has very low albedo, a solar reflectance of

5% i.e. 95% of energy is absorbed.

Concrete with an albedo of 0.35 reflects 35% i.e.

absorbs 65% of energy reaching them.

WATER TRANSPORT

”Foot By Foot” is Against:

Development of Motor-able Ring Roads

circumventing Udaipur’s Lakes. Asphalt Roads &

vehicular noise & emission have adverse impact on

aquatic life & water quality.

Motorized transport powered by fossil fuel to travel

across lakes.

Development of motorized water-sports for

recreation and fun.

Cruising through Lake water by motor-boats as a

ROW by Hotels which are accessible by road

network.

Stop Using Animals for Transport

Transportation of people or goods using

animals is cruel, and archaic. Use of mules,

mare, ass, horses, camels, elephants,

bullocks etc. is very primitive and inhuman.

Use of animals for recreational activities, fun,

religious processions, marriage ceremonies,

should be substituted with better available

options.

Invest in Air Transport

Develop helipads in every Community

Centre, Ward, Gram Panchayat, Hospital

building, PHC and every congested locality.

Construct Hangers for parking &

maintenance of helicopters.

Buy or lease a fleet of helicopters to be used

as air-ambulances, policing, emergency

rescue operations, air-taxis etc.

WE ARE NOT ANTI-DEVELOPMENT

Development must be progressive.

It should ease & solve the

problems, not aggravate them!

Develop Sustainable Mobility Infrastructure:

Develop exclusive bike-lanes, bike-highways, bike-streets

and bike boulevards.

Develop continuous Footpaths which are safe, attractive,

inviting & comfortable for one & all. Make them friendly

for children, elderly, blinds, wheelchairs & strolls for

infants.

Provide for Multi-utility corridor for underground cabling,

poles, trees & bushes, toilets, drinking water huts,

benches, vendors etc.

Initiate Govt. sponsored bike-rental service, safe-

comfortable & reliable Public Transport with bike carrying

racks while discouraging private auto-mobility

Recommendations for Immediate Steps:

Dedicate, paint & segregate a portion of all arterial, sub-arterial

& major roads exclusively for Cycles & Pedestrians, esp.

following routes:(i) B. N. College (Sevashram) – M.B. College – Surajpole – Bapu Bazaar – Delhi Gate

– Court Circle – Hospital Road – Chetak Circle – Hathipole – Chandpole – Ghangour

Ghat – Jagdish Mandir (City Palace) – Gulab Bagh – Udaipole (Bus Station) – Railway

Station.

(ii) University Road – Sukhadiya Memorial – Shastri Circle – M. G. College Road –

Sukhadiya Circle – Celebration Mall.

(iii) University – Ahad Museum – Thokar Chauraya (Rana Pratap Nagar Railway

Station) – Sevashram (B. N. College) – Hiran Magri Sector-4 Chouraya – Sai Mandir –

Apni Sabzi Mandi – Hiran Magri Police Station – Krishi Mandi – Paras Cinema Circle

– Baleecha (IIM-U) – Dakshin Vistaar Yojna.

Develop the proposed New Road (Udaipole- Sector-4, 60 ft. Rd.)

as an exclusive bike boulevard and project it as ideal biking &

recreational route of the city.

Make Udaipur Walk-able

Ensure obstruction-free zebra crossings,

wide and continuous footpaths & pedestrian

signals at all major crossings.

Declare & promote the mindset that

Pedestrians are the First citizen of the road &

possess the first Right Of Way over

motorists.

Repair & make all existing footpaths clean

and encroachment free.

Develop Recreational Biking Circuits to promote tourism:

Dedicated Cycle-trek around Lake Pichhola.

Dedicated Cycle-trek around Lake Fateh Sagar.

Dedicated Cycle-trek from Sajjangarh – Badi Talab -

Fateh Sagar.

Bike route to Jaisamand lake via Kedwa ki Naal.

Introduce city bike rental service with bike-stations at

an interval of every one kilometer.

Formulate appropriate Laws & Regulations:

Impose the maximum speed limit for all vehicles with

in the city to not more than 30 kmph.

Provide for safe and free supervised cycle parking

across the city.

Declare vehicle-free shopping zones for a few hours

every week in Bapu Bazaar, Ashwini Bazaar, Clock

Tower, old city area etc.

Make Heritage Walking Tour area a vehicle-free

zone for a couple of hours every day.

Ashutosh Mehta

FOOT BY FOOT

Web: Facebook.com/footbyfoot

Email: footbyfoot@hotmail.com

Lets make our Udaipur safe to walk & bike.

THANK YOU