Presentation made by Ashutosh Nirvadyaachari at a Seminar on Road Networks, Flyovers and Elevated Road Plans at Udaipur organised at Vigyan Samiti on 15 January, 2014

1. Some Thoughts on
Infrastructure for
Sustainable Mobility @Udaipur
By
Ashutosh Nirvadyaachari,
FOOT BY FOOT,
Udaipur

2. “Foot By Foot” is against:
 Construction of New Flyovers
 Development of Elevated Roads
 Continuous Widening of Roads
 Encroachment of Footpaths & Parking spaces.
 Destruction / Narrowing of Footpaths for the purpose
of road-widening.
WHY? …..

3. “Foot By Foot” is for:
 Development of Infrastructure for Sustainable
Mobility.
 Development of exclusive Cycling-Tracks, Biking
Highways, Bike-lanes; wide, safe & inviting
Footpaths, Multi-utility Corridors etc.
 Development of economical, comfortable & reliable
Public Transport, Bike-sharing Models etc.
WHY?.....

4. Motor-Vehicle Ownership is NOT
Sustainable
 India has the Highest Casualty Rate for
people on the road. No. 1 in World !!!
 Over 1,50,000 people die due to accidents
from motorized vehicles, 1.5 million are
hospitalized & 7 million people suffer minor
injuries every year.
 67% who die are from 18-50 yr. age group.
 Estimated Economic Loss: Rs. 550 billion p.a.
i.e. 3% of India’s Total GDP [Source: WHO, 2009].

5. Motor-Vehicle Ownership is NOT
Sustainable
 Energy consumption in Indian urban
transport will grow from 1.6 EJ in 2000 to 6.1
EJ in 2030 if current trends towards auto-
mobility prevail. (Schipper, Banerjee and Ng )
 25% of this energy could be saved if Indian
cities shift their trajectory to a more
sustainable pattern.
 Vehicular emission causes 4 to 8 times
increase in Bronchitis patients.

6. Ponder over a few Questions:
 How much WIDE Road is enough wide:
2-lane, 4-lane, 10-lane, 12-lane???
 What should be the MAX speed of travel:
20 or 30 kmph, or 40/60/100/150/180? Want
to compete with Light or Time?!!!
 How many vehicles are sufficient for a city of
1 million population to meet its transportation
requirements? Can our road infrastructure
support that?

7. All developments aim to increase vehicular speed!
What speed is JUST ENOUGH for city mobility?
 Compare a collision @30km/h to one @50km/h.
 Average speed of a driver @N.Y. 6.4-7.9 mph, @London
is 19 kmph, Delhi @15 km/h, @Chennai 18 km/h,
Mumbai @15-20 km/h, Kolkatta @ 10-18 km/h. [IRC, 2009]
 Average speed of a cyclist is 15-20 km/h & a pedestrian
is 5 km/h.
 Traffic calming measures @London restrict the max
speed of all vehicles @20 km/h
 2/3rd of Udaipur’s working population is engaged in
Tourism Industry which calls for leisurely paced
movements.

8. .

9. Some Facts:
 World’s widest road is 22 lanes wide and yet
congested! (King’s Highway 401 @Toronto)
 The largest Toll plaza in South-Asia has 36 lanes
and still infamous for its congestion! (Delhi-Gurgaon
Expressway)
 21% of Delhi’s area is covered by motor-ways & yet
insufficient!
 Udaipur has 1400 acres of developed land for
transportation and further development of 3150
acres for motorized transport is envisaged under the
Master Plan 2031.

10. Road Occupancy Comparison:
69Cyclists,60Private Cars1CityBus

11. Recreation of Muenster Photo
@Canberra for 69 road users

12. Modal Split at Udaipur
Source: Wilbur Smith Associates and Ministry of Urban Development (2008)
Modal Share in %age
Walking (32%)
Cycling (20%)
Pub. Transport / Auto
(12%)
2 Wheelers (24%)
Cars 12%

13. Social Injustice (Inequitable allocation of Budget):
 Walking & Cycling constitutes more than half the
share of commuting public on the road.
 Whereas private vehicles make only 1/3rd of the
share.
 But Policies & Fund Allocation in Budget always
favour motorists.
 Urban-poor comprises the majority. Despite of this,
much of the Transport infrastructure fund is spent for
elite class mobility.
 Cars & 2-Wheelers are highly subsidized compared
to Public Transport. [Lindberg 2002, Sen 2005, PEG 2008]

14. Move People, NOT Cars:
 National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP, 2006) is
against development of Flyovers and prioritizes the
infrastructure development for NMT & Public Transport.
 A gap in planning and implementation: Even after
NUTP has been adopted, changes have not been
observed in the investment pattern of the local
authorities. It violates the basic principles of the NUTP
& JnNURM.
 According to the JnNURM strategy, transport
infrastructure projects should comply with the
objectives of NUTP.

15. Flyovers are Populist Measures
 Unfriendly to negotiate by Bikers & Pedestrians.
 Unfriendly for Public Transport as it by-passes the
city area.
 People need to walk over 1Km to change-over a
Public Transport at Junctions / crossings.
 The Rebound Effect: A large portion (50-100%) of
the new roadway capacity is absorbed by Induced
Traffic after three years of operation (Noland and Len,
2000).
 Flyovers are ugly structures destroying the skyline of
buildings & monuments it bypasses.

16. U – Turn: Learn from the World
 Flyovers, freeways and elevated roads have not
been able to resolve road congestion in any city
across the world.
 In many cities, elevated roads and flyovers are now
being dismantled as they have failed to reduce traffic
congestion.
 The focus has now shifted on narrowing the roads,
widening the sidewalks, improving public
transportation and giving highest priority to walking
and cycling.

17. Some International Examples:
 Seoul replaced its 9.5km long flyover with boulevard park
to decongest traffic.
 Portland in USA razed down Harbor Drive freeway and
converted it into a 37 acre park.
 Denver, San Francisco, Boston, Milwaukee,Trenton,
Portland and Chattanooga, Vancouver and Toronto too
pulled down their Elevated Highways to create space for
pedestrians.
 Bristol demolished its City Centre flyover in 1997 and now
rebuilding it exclusively for cyclists.
 Melbourne and Auckland also razed down some of their
flyovers.

18. Flyovers are Man-made Disasters
 Flyovers are a Waste of Tax-Payers’ Money.
 Capital & Time invested to erect them do not justify the
temporary relief, if any.
 Cities like San Francisco, Portland, Milwaukee, Seoul etc.
had to re-invest to dismantle their flyovers & elevated
roads.
 1982: Delhi had 5 flyovers, Now: 74, Traffic status:
Congested. Result: PWD is preparing a New Plan for
decongesting traffic!
 The government increases road space to decongest the
existing traffic. But new roads end up attracting more
traffic.

19. Road-Widening, Elevated Roads, Flyovers
etc. paradoxically increase Congestion
 Braess's paradox shows that adding road
capacity might make congestion worse even if
demand does not increase. This is because the
Nash equilibrium of such a system is not
necessarily optimal.

20. Some Practical Proofs for Braess’s Paradox:
 Seoul: A speeding-up in traffic around the city was seen
when a motorway was removed as part of the
Cheonggyecheon restoration project.
 Stuttgart (Germany): After investments into the road
network in 1969, the traffic situation did not improve until
a section of newly built road was closed for traffic again.
 New York (U.S.A.): In 1990 the closing of 42nd street
reduced the amount of congestion in the area.
 In 2008 Youn, Gastner and Jeong demonstrated specific
routes in Boston, New York City and London and
pointed out roads that could be closed to reduce
predicted travel times.

21. Why Roads Should NOT be Widened?
 Wide roads & flyovers increases the speed of the
vehicles. High speed traffic is dangerous & fatal for
motorists & other road users too.
 Pedestrians find difficult to cross wider roads.
 Roads are being widened by demolishing footpaths
& cycle tracks. Footpaths are the first casualty of
road-widening.
 Wide roads are not eco-friendly. They make ground-
water recharging impossible. Several trees too are
cut down.
 Induced Traffic in 3 years renders the effort futile.

22. Fundamental Law of Road Congestion
The American Economic Review (2011) Study by London School of
Economics & University of Toronto
 No. of vehicle-kilometers traveled (VKT)
increases in direct proportion to the available
lane-kilometers of roadways.
 The implication is that building new roads
and widening existing ones only results in
additional traffic that continues to rise until
peak congestion returns to the previous level

23. 
Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect:
 The annual mean air temperature of a city with 1
million people can be 1–3°C warmer than its
surroundings. In the evening, the difference can be
as high as 12°C.
 Introduce Cool Pavements. Permeable pavements
with pores & high thermal emissivity.
 Bitumen has very low albedo, a solar reflectance of
5% i.e. 95% of energy is absorbed.
 Concrete with an albedo of 0.35 reflects 35% i.e.
absorbs 65% of energy reaching them.

24. 
WATER TRANSPORT
”Foot By Foot” is Against:
 Development of Motor-able Ring Roads
circumventing Udaipur’s Lakes. Asphalt Roads &
vehicular noise & emission have adverse impact on
aquatic life & water quality.
 Motorized transport powered by fossil fuel to travel
across lakes.
 Development of motorized water-sports for
recreation and fun.
 Cruising through Lake water by motor-boats as a
ROW by Hotels which are accessible by road
network.

25. Stop Using Animals for Transport
 Transportation of people or goods using
animals is cruel, and archaic. Use of mules,
mare, ass, horses, camels, elephants,
bullocks etc. is very primitive and inhuman.
 Use of animals for recreational activities, fun,
religious processions, marriage ceremonies,
should be substituted with better available
options.

26. Invest in Air Transport
 Develop helipads in every Community
Centre, Ward, Gram Panchayat, Hospital
building, PHC and every congested locality.
 Construct Hangers for parking &
maintenance of helicopters.
 Buy or lease a fleet of helicopters to be used
as air-ambulances, policing, emergency
rescue operations, air-taxis etc.

28. WE ARE NOT ANTI-DEVELOPMENT
Development must be progressive.
It should ease & solve the
problems, not aggravate them!

29. Develop Sustainable Mobility Infrastructure:
 Develop exclusive bike-lanes, bike-highways, bike-streets
and bike boulevards.
 Develop continuous Footpaths which are safe, attractive,
inviting & comfortable for one & all. Make them friendly
for children, elderly, blinds, wheelchairs & strolls for
infants.
 Provide for Multi-utility corridor for underground cabling,
poles, trees & bushes, toilets, drinking water huts,
benches, vendors etc.
 Initiate Govt. sponsored bike-rental service, safe-
comfortable & reliable Public Transport with bike carrying
racks while discouraging private auto-mobility

30. Recommendations for Immediate Steps:
 Dedicate, paint & segregate a portion of all arterial, sub-arterial
& major roads exclusively for Cycles & Pedestrians, esp.
following routes:
(i) B. N. College (Sevashram) – M.B. College – Surajpole – Bapu Bazaar – Delhi Gate
– Court Circle – Hospital Road – Chetak Circle – Hathipole – Chandpole – Ghangour
Ghat – Jagdish Mandir (City Palace) – Gulab Bagh – Udaipole (Bus Station) – Railway
Station.
(ii) University Road – Sukhadiya Memorial – Shastri Circle – M. G. College Road –
Sukhadiya Circle – Celebration Mall.
(iii) University – Ahad Museum – Thokar Chauraya (Rana Pratap Nagar Railway
Station) – Sevashram (B. N. College) – Hiran Magri Sector-4 Chouraya – Sai Mandir –
Apni Sabzi Mandi – Hiran Magri Police Station – Krishi Mandi – Paras Cinema Circle
– Baleecha (IIM-U) – Dakshin Vistaar Yojna.
 Develop the proposed New Road (Udaipole- Sector-4, 60 ft. Rd.)
as an exclusive bike boulevard and project it as ideal biking &
recreational route of the city.

31. Make Udaipur Walk-able
 Ensure obstruction-free zebra crossings,
wide and continuous footpaths & pedestrian
signals at all major crossings.
 Declare & promote the mindset that
Pedestrians are the First citizen of the road &
possess the first Right Of Way over
motorists.
 Repair & make all existing footpaths clean
and encroachment free.

32. 
Develop Recreational Biking Circuits to
promote tourism:
 Dedicated Cycle-trek around Lake Pichhola.
 Dedicated Cycle-trek around Lake Fateh Sagar.
 Dedicated Cycle-trek from Sajjangarh – Badi Talab -
Fateh Sagar.
 Bike route to Jaisamand lake via Kedwa ki Naal.
 Introduce city bike rental service with bike-stations at
an interval of every one kilometer.

33. Formulate appropriate Laws & Regulations:
 Impose the maximum speed limit for all vehicles with
in the city to not more than 30 kmph.
 Provide for safe and free supervised cycle parking
across the city.
 Declare vehicle-free shopping zones for a few hours
every week in Bapu Bazaar, Ashwini Bazaar, Clock
Tower, old city area etc.
 Make Heritage Walking Tour area a vehicle-free
zone for a couple of hours every day.

34. Ashutosh Mehta
FOOT BY FOOT
Web: Facebook.com/footbyfoot
Email: footbyfoot@hotmail.com
Lets make our Udaipur safe to walk & bike.
THANK YOU