The Indian Express             24.09.2013

BMC works on a hi-tech traffic plan

For the first time in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) has undertaken an initiative to comprehensively plan the traffic
mobility of the city.

This plan will be largely based on the Comprehensive
Transportation Study (CTS) conducted by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
development Authority (MMRDA) in 2008, with assistance from the World
Bank under MUTP (Mumbai Urban Transport Project).

“We are thinking big with this plan though it is still in its
preliminary stages. We want to bring about a drastic change in the
traffic situation in the city today. We are even creating a software for
transportation management and planning. I had previously worked on
MMRDA’s CTS plan, which was created for the entire MMR region to be
adopted by local bodies. So this will largely be based on that, though
it will go further to cater to the situation specific to the city,” said
additional municipal commissioner S V R Srinivas, who was previously
MMRDA additional metropolitan commissioner. At BMC, Srinivas is
currently in-charge of the roads, traffic and bridges department.

“The finances for the plan will fit in our current traffic budget
for the year (roughly Rs 15 crore), which already included the
introduction of a five-year traffic & simulation studies for
scientifically ascertaining parking requirements, road widths, road
lines and bridges,” he added.

The mobility plan will identify travel patterns of residents, and
businesses, and evolve strategies to facilitate flowing traffic. The
corporation will devise a traffic system software to grade various roads
of the city based on their usage and their proximity to major routes.
Currently, the civic body only uses the video feed from cameras
installed at major traffic junctions across Mumbai to judge the density
of vehicles at any given time.

“In our traffic census for the city, we are going to map the
traffic density on all roads, including minor ones. There are many
arterial roads that are as vital as the Western Express Highway and the
Eastern Express Highway, such as the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road and S
V Road. We will see if roads in such areas have to be modified or
developed to aid traffic flow. We will also work on the missing links in
the road network based on the Development Plan and plan future projects
accordingly,” Srinivas said.

As part of the mobility plan, the corporation has also roped in state
government think-tank, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU), for
carrying out its traffic survey.

An institute or firm will also be appointed to carry out
inter-modal studies in peak hour and non-peak hour traffic. The studies
will include an analysis of the three modes of transport – public,
private and intermediate public transport (IPT) vehicles such as
rickshaws and taxis.

“The plan will also consider the problems of pedestrians and how
their interests can be served in the system. Earlier, one-way and
two-way roads were decided manually without a scientific basis. Now,
such decisions will be taken systematically through research,” Srinivas
said.