Sushain Gupta
Heavy traffic is one of the major concerns for the Indian cities. Many factors are responsible for it that can be inefficient road design, lack of traffic regulations, unorganized maintenance, encroachment on the roads etc. With the high pace of urbanization, the pattern and types of encroachment has changed from the slums and vending activities on footpaths to a different scenario like if we minutely observe while moving down the street we can easily notice the long ramps from the houses which have occupied a significant area on the roads, protruded balconies, construction over the drains, gardens outside the boundary walls, illegal mining, illegal sand excavations, illegal roadside parking, dumping wastes on the vacant land which are eye sore for the cityscap. The problem is growing with the each passing day , everyone can blame the next to safeguard himself but that can neither reduce the gravity of the problem nor the offence. Encroachment in urban areas have toppled the whole planning right from its identification to implantation and thereafter. As a consequence it is not only affecting the natural resources but also ruining the heritage structures, slowing the movement of traffic in cities, wastage of time in commuting, road accidents etc.Thus we cannot compromise on efficient planning in order to have a smooth functioning of our towns and cities. Planned development is the crucial zone that strikes a balance between large scale urbanization and infrastructure. It is a tedious task to remove encroachments from the roads completely but we can mitigate the problems generated by it.
Problems due to encroachments:
* Hawkers encroach upon roads and leads to immense traffic congestion.
* Shopkeepers display most of their items outside the shop which sweeps away some portion of roads.
* Loss of amenities, including the planting of trees as well as pleasantness, coherence and harmony of the street space caused by encroachment.
* Public assets of road turning fragile due to encroachment.
* Encroachment results in the obstruction of views and results in the appearance of the place to be in excessively built form.
* Pedestrians cannot use the pavements due to the encroached activities thereby shifting the pedestrians on the roads which results in the conflict between the vehicular movement and the pedestrian movement.
Solutions for the issue:
* Encroachment free pavements and footpaths : provision of suitable walkways or footpaths for the safe and hurdle free movement of pedestrians and also to reduce the congestion from the roads to a large extent.
* Redesigning of roads: roads should have a cross-section in such a way that there should be segregation of vehicular and pedestrian circulation and a special track for cyclists. Provision for planting trees , placing street furniture should be efficiently made to have the best use of the road area.
* Relocation of parking: vehicles plying on street parking has to be removed or relocated to the nearby parking lots or open spaces with the easy and convenient integration of spaces so that one need not to move unnecessarily from parking lots to the point of destination. Restrictions on on-street parking results in less traffic jamming and safer roads.
* Specific space for informal sector: spaces for informal sector like vendors , rehris, or small kiosks need to be assigned critically. It is necessary to have a level difference from the roads to restrict the entry of vehicles inside the vending areas. Buffer zone can be created to prevent noise and air pollution to some extent.
* Regulations by the local bodies: strong regulations should be imposed and banning the expansion of shops or structures on the roads and pavements, can help in having the best views and vistas of the city and to have the maximum functionality of the designed spaces.
The author is M. Arch (Urban Design)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel