Activists do not buy civic body’s comprehensive mobility plan

Pedestrians First, an organisation working for the resolution of traffic and transport problems of the city, has submitted its objections to the Pune Municipal Corporation's Comprehensive Mobility Plan(CMP) for the city.

Prashant Inamdar, convenor of Pedestrians First, said the final version of the CMP has been recently posted on the PMC's website. "We are not aware of the exact 'Terms of reference' for the preparation of CMP. We have studied the final CMP and have recently submitting our comments and suggestions to PMC chief and the mayor," he said.

Inamdar said the CMP has recommended flyovers at certain locations but has made various stipulations of vital importance.

He said among the suggestions include: while providing flyover, it is very important that it doesn't result in traffic levels going up; any effort at building a flyover must be simultaneously accompanied by vastly improved public transport and NMT infrastructure; if flyovers are to be taken up at any intersection, they must be preceded by a thorough evaluation of alternative options; In addition, the IRC warrants for provisioning of flyovers also need to be checked ; It would be necessary to prepare feasibility studies for each of the flyover taking into account the discussions above and a full perspective of the flyover's impact on the mobility corridor that it lies on.

He said, however, that despite recommending flyovers, the CMP states – "The general experience is that while flyovers / grade-separated cross-over may help to relieve congestion at intersections temporarily, they also allow a lot of the suppressed transit demand to come on to the roads. This generally leads to congestion coming back - at a higher level of traffic. Flyovers also tend to merely shift the point of congestion from one location to another. As a result, the real utility of flyovers, beyond providing a temporarily relief from congestion, has been questioned by many experts."

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