A city that forgot its pedestrians: Footpaths missing from 72% of Ahmedabad roads

Ahmedabad: As the city heads into the 2026 municipal elections, a glaring gap in its urban infrastructure has come into sharp focus — Ahmedabad remains overwhelmingly unfriendly to pedestrians, with a staggering 72% of its roads lacking footpaths.Despite rapid urban expansion and crores spent annually on road development, only 28% of the city's 2,634-km road network currently has designated pedestrian pathways, according to data from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's 2023–24 budget. This translates to just 731.43 km of roads with footpaths, leaving the vast majority of citizens to navigate traffic-heavy streets on foot.The issue is particularly stark in newly developed and merged areas such as Jodhpur, Vejalpur, Bodakdev, Thaltej, Gota, Vastral, Chandkheda, Motera, Bopal, Ghuma and Kathwada, where roads have come up over the past decade — often without any pedestrian infrastructure. Civic officials admit that while resurfacing and widening projects have continued, footpath construction has not kept pace, resulting in fragmented or non-existent walking networks."The corporation spends crores every year on roads, but without building footpaths alongside, a proper pedestrian network never takes shape," a senior AMC official said, requesting anonymity.The situation has been further compounded by repeated tender failures. Since 2023, multiple attempts to award contracts for footpath construction — including a Rs 50 crore citywide tender — have fallen through due to lack of bidders or disqualification of applicants. Even after splitting tenders zone-wise into smaller packages of Rs 10 crore, the response remained lukewarm. It was only on the fourth attempt that limited participation was seen, with a few contracts finally moving forward at slightly reduced costs.Amid mounting criticism, the AMC has now announced a renewed push under its 2026–27 policy, aiming to develop 200km of pedestrian-friendly roads at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore. Plans also include installing railings between roads and footpaths to enhance safety.In parallel, larger urban design initiatives are being rolled out. The civic body has earmarked Rs 400 crore to transform key stretches — including Ashram Road — into ‘iconic roads' with integrated footpaths, while Rs 334 crore has been sanctioned for precinct-level development projects that include pedestrian infrastructure. Footpaths are also being incorporated into ongoing white-topping road projects.However, urban planners point out that unless footpath construction becomes a mandatory component of every road project — rather than an afterthought — Ahmedabad risks continuing its car-centric growth at the cost of pedestrian safety.