Cycle corridors: Delhi agency roped in to conduct road survey

Kolkata: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority has roped in a Delhi based agency to conduct a survey of the roads in the city with the purpose of creating a dedicated cycle corridor in some major thoroughfares. Engineers at KMDA are of the opinion that rationalising the hawking zone and removal of roadside parking space can make way for dedicated cycle corridor in a number of city roads.

"Our initial survey has revealed that only point two per cent of additional road space needs to be created for a dedicated bicycle corridor. Most of the pavements in the city are occupied by hawkers. If we can create hawking zones and non-hawking zones in the city it will allow us additional space in the pavement which can be used for the movement of the cycles. The roadside parking space at some roads can be removed for seamless cycle movement," said a KMDA official.

He said that the agency doing the feasibility study has been asked to keep it mind that pedestrian movement in the city should not be hampered by any means."For removing parking space from certain roads we have to develop more parking lots in the city . So we will simultaneously work on creating parking lots. Policy wise it has been decided that there will be no parking area by the side of the roads particularly those where cycle tracks will be developed," he added.

Sources in KMDA said that they have already earmarked 10 to 12 routes where they can allow cycles to move. The routes include Howrah to Dharmatala, Behala to Dharmatala, Behala to Sector V, Dharmatala to Salt Lake, Sealdah to Dharmatala, Kidderpore to Howrah to name a few. In all these routes a lot of movement of cycles have been witnessed with people preferring the two wheeler over public transport where maintaining physical distancing is a major challenge. "We have asked the agency to work on routes like these and identify cycle corridors " said an official adding that unplanned bicycle movement on vehicular roads increases the possibility of road accidents.

KMDA chairman Firhad Hakim stressed on comprehensive planning for creating such a corridor. "Kolkata is an old and unplanned city. So we have assigned the feasibility study to an expert agency," he said.

The preliminary report is expected to come within four months.