BMC uses second wave traffic lull to make 3 junctions safe

MUMBAI: Before the pandemic, a busy junction located near the popular Lalbaugcha Raja mandal witnessed 26 road crashes over three years. In the absence of road markings,

pedestrians

would dart across at will at Jagnade Chowk in Lalbaug. Post the second Covid wave, though, Jagnade Chowk is no longer the unsafe stretch that it used to be. The BMC utilised the lockdown-like restrictions to create protected pedestrian

crossings

and waiting areas to make the stretch safer for all road users. Two other crash-prone junctions, Worli’s Mela junction and

Kandivli

’s Namaha Hospital junction, have got makeovers too.

Sant Jagnade Chowk at Lalbaug
The civic body’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan, 2016, says half of all trips in the city are on foot. After easing of Covid-related curbs, many people have begun to prefer travelling by foot rather than using crowded modes of transportation. This category of road users is also the most vulnerable though.

Namaha Hospital junction at Kandivali


“We would tear our hair out watching pedestrians break into a sprint at Jagnade Chowk. The elderly found it most challenging,” said a traffic policeman who has had to halt vehicles at times so pedestrians wouldn’t get hit. This junction—used by 3,500 pedestrians during peak hours—witnessed five fatalities within a 500-metre radius between 2016 and 2019.

Under the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), the junction was made compact by aligning traffic lanes, shortening turning radii and creating refuge areas out of unutilised spaces for pedestrians to halt before crossing. These interventions reduced the crossing distance by almost 30% and vehicle speeds were kept in check. A first-of-its kind removable refuge island will be fitted at the junction shortly to allow Ganeshotsav processions to pass uninterrupted.

With three and five casualties, respectively, between 2015 and 2019, Worli’s Mela junction and Kandivli’s Namaha Hospital junction were high-risk zones in pre-Covid times.

Located at a three-arm intersection of the Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road and Annie Besant Road in Worli, the Mela junction lacked any sort of pedestrian infrastructure. The Love Grove flyover also runs just above the junction.

Mela junction had an inaccessible traffic island. “The footpath had broken paver blocks and was not continuous,” said Nikhil Parbat, a resident who walks to work and back. After the BMC redid the footpath with stamped concrete and provided pedestrian crossings with two median refuges, Parbat said his journey has become safer.

“We converted the inaccessible traffic island to an accessible refuge area. Travel lanes and stop lines were marked,” said Rohit Tak, urban mobility expert with WRI India, a BIGRS partner.

The Namaha Hospital junction is one of the 50 critical junctions identified by BMC in its Comprehensive Mobility Plan that had regular traffic conflicts. At this junction, the traffic islands were too high and vehicle visibility had become an issue for pedestrians.

“A portion of the divider was broken down to create a waiting area for pedestrians. The civic body widened the footpath which used to be quite narrow,” said corporator Leena Patel. The new design improved accessibility for all users by providing 11 wheelchair-accessible ramps on footpaths, and six ramps in the two refuge islands.