Not a stone has moved since the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac) recommended skywalks and foot overbridges at busy junctions and pedestrian corridors in the city two years ago.
Foot overbridges mooted by different agencies as own projects or with private funding too are non-starters. The situation is so bad that people have no other option but to risk their life and cross four and six-lane roads, since even zebra lines are missing in most places.
Agencies such as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which collect toll from road users, have not readied even a single project to ensure safety of pedestrians. Neither has the District Road Safety Committee initiated measures to channelise road-safety funds to set things right.
Daily grindNarrating her daily grind, Seetha Keyan, an employee of Spices Board head office located at Palarivattom NH Bypass junction said that pedestrians had to wait for 10 minutes to cross the junction, whether it is rain or shine. “We are at the mercy of motorists who stream down continuously through multiple lanes. Many do not slow down even though we raise both hands and signal them to do so,” she said.
Officials of the NHAI and the traffic police admitted that the 16-km-long Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass corridor recorded one of the highest pedestrian fatalities in Kochi due to lack of safety measures.
‘Best bet’Responding to the precarious situation, Director of Natpac B.G. Sreedevi said that skywalks and foot overbridges were the best bet for Kochi since they were cheaper than pedestrian subways.
“The subways might get flooded in heavy downpour. They are also a security hazard at night. A foot overbridge built over a four-lane road would cost up to Rs.60 lakh, including the cost of escalators on either side,” she said.
Foot overbridges and skywalks made of steel could also be dismantled and shifted to another location. Congested and busy junctions such as Vyttila needed pedestrian skywalks that could cost up to Rs.3 crore. These structures would have arms linking all roads and directions at such junctions, enabling hassle-free movement of pedestrians, she said.
“The Natpac can provide technical help to conduct a survey, identify location and construct such structures,” Ms. Sreedevi, a doctorate holder in Pavement Engineering and postgraduate in Urban and Highway Engineering, said.
The Kochi Project Director of the NHAI, Chandrasekhar Reddy, said there was no proposal to build foot overbridges on NH Bypass. “We had asked our consultant to submit safety and other recommendations. A fresh consultant can be appointed to study and report on pedestrian safety, ” he said.
On the absence of zebra lines at junctions and pedestrian-dense corridors, he said that this would be taken care of. He admitted that pedestrians and motorists were at added risk since shoulders of service roads had either sunk or were slushy, making them unusable.
Meeting on SaturdayThe safety hazards being faced by pedestrians and motorists would be discussed at a meeting of stakeholders convened by the traffic police on Saturday, said Assistant Commissioner of City Traffic Police (East) A.J. George. “The focus is now on Vyttila Junction, following which issues at Palarivattom and other junctions will be taken care of. Subsequently, notices will be issued to agencies like the NHAI to give priority to the safety of pedestrians,” he said.
