Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will not construct more foot overbridges (FOBs) in Delhi as urban planners believe that they are no longer a desirable option for pedestrians. After Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (planning and engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) decided that FOBs should only be constructed in special situations,where no ground-level solution is possible. DDA Commissioner (Planning) Ashok Kumar,said on Wednesday,A decision has been taken not to construct any more FOBs in Delhi. We now have a policy that foot overbridges would be built only when other options are exhausted, said Kumar. He was speaking in a national consultation workshop organised by the Ministry of Urban Development. According to UTTIPEC director Ashok Bhattacharjee,there used to be lot of requests from PWD and other departments earlier for the construction of FOBs. But,now they have to fulfill certain criteria before taking up construction of bridges. The type of pedestrian crossing subways,FOBs or grade-level crossings to be constructed in an area will now be decided on the basis of guidelines we have come up with, he said Officer on Special Duty,Urban Transport,S K Lohia also agreed that FOBs are not a desirable option. He said it was a punishment to expect pedestrians to walk up and down. Instead,you should elevate the road and allow a grade pedestrain crossing, said Lohia. A recent traffic police survey has revealed that a majority of FOBs in the city are not being used by people. This audit,carried out recently on the directives of the UTTIPEC,took a pedestrian count on 34 FOBs during peak hours between 8 am and 11 am,and between 5 pm and 8 pm. Of the 34 FOBs,pedestrians hardly set foot on 21 of them. These include the FOBs in areas like C-8 Vasant Kunj; Road No 13-A,near Sarita Vihar underpass,which are used on an average by only 16 and 12 people during peak hours. The area where FOBs are least used is East Delhi. Around 10 FOBs were found to be used frequently.
