One way traffic experiment
Everyday I travel through the Simla office chowk and go past Sacheti hospital. In order to increase the average speed of traffic and to make it manageable, Pune police are conducting an experiment. The triangle Simla office chowk –> Sancheti Hospital –> Modern Café chowk –> Simla office chowk is now made one way.
Now the traffic flows as follows:
Simla Office chowk --> Traffic from University road, Shivajinagar station and Revenue colony converges at Simla Office chowk. The traffic from Revenue colony either goes straight to Shivajinagar station or turns left towards University road or takes a right turn towards Sancheti hospital. Traffic from Shivajinagar station takes a left turn to proceed towards Sancheti hospital.
On the road opposite Lok Mangal (Bank of Maharashtra building) we have a situation where some motorists travel from Revenue Colony and proceed in the direction of COEP through Sancheti chowk or going straight past Sancheti hospital towards the Courts. For doing this they have to change lanes from the right side to the left side and mind you the road is now a wide 6 lane one. In effect a vehicle travels across six lanes. This traffic and traffic coming from Shivajinagar station often criss cross each other.
This criss crossing of traffic is enacted on the other roads as well. All this endangers road safety. Add to it the pedestrians trying to cross the roads. The length of these roads is about 200 meters. This means that in length of 200 meters vehicles of different sizes, having different speeds try to avoid or outmanoeuvre each other as well as pedestrians in order to reach their destinations. It has become a high pressure zone for all drivers as well as pedestrians. Another factor contributing to the chaos is the width of these roads. Unlike other roads in Pune these three roads are very wide … so wide that now with one way traffic we have 6 lanes of road available. This in my opinion is also a big problem. With so much space available all the motorists tend to speed unduly and the criss cross pattern creates a hugely dangerous situation.
Another factor is the trees in the middle of the road from Modern Café chowk to Simla Office chowk. Earlier when the traffic was two way these trees were on the divider and were infact a soothing sight. They also blocked the glare of the lights of the oncoming traffic. Now the dividers have been removed we have trees right in the middle of the road! And people keep moving between the trees while changing lanes. Usually when driving a car a part of the road lies in the blind spot of the driver. This part is the one that comes behind the drivers side A pillar ( A pillar is the tilted column that holds the front wind screen). Many times I was surprised by vehicles who seemed to come from behind these trees and the blind spot.
In my opinion these roads were wide enough with three lanes on each side and these could have been retained as two way roads. With the dividers missing people tend to cross roads in an unregulated manner at any point. This distracts the driver. To overcome this pedestrian crossings have been created in the middle of the roads with the intention of regulating speed and making space available for pedestrians to safely cross the road. These are at an increased height going across the road. This is even more dangerous! So while driving one has to keep in mind the manhole covers that are below the road surface and these pedestrian crossings that are right across the road.
One way traffic should ideally be the last resort in traffic planning. The reasons of traffic congestion should first be addressed. There are some visible signs that lead to congestion on roads. One of it is the encroachment by shopkeepers. Almost all the shopkeepers and hotel owners illegally occupy the front part (even the footpaths) of their establishment. Shopkeepers use it to display their wares and hotels use it for putting more tables. Officially, is supposed to be used for parking. As a result the customers are forced to park on the roads. Parking on the roads results in blocking of one lane leading to reduction in the available carriage-width. Why can’t this space be brought for public use? Probably there is some sort arrangement between the shop-owners and PMC or it is pure inefficiency on the part of PMC. Either way the PMC is to be blamed for this.
While no one can doubt the intention of Pune Police to regulate the traffic, this change has resulted in some very basic issues in urban city planning. The term “City Planning” means planning of the city. In our country we let cities grow on their own in an unregulated manner. When some issues on infrastructure develop, there are half hearted attempts to divert the issues rather than resolve them. In city planning, first areas should be identified for the various purposes such as gardens, schools, utilities, residential and commercial zones. Then roads, drainage lines and power lines laid. Once these basics are in place then the construction for residential and commercial buildings should commence. Once these are in place then should people be invited to live there. Entire localities need to be developed like this.
Until City Planning happens in a planned manner we will continue to suffer the ill effects of the inefficiencies of the present way of “city planning”. It is really strange that whatever that could go wrong with city planning has gone wrong in Pune.
Now the traffic flows as follows:
Simla Office chowk --> Traffic from University road, Shivajinagar station and Revenue colony converges at Simla Office chowk. The traffic from Revenue colony either goes straight to Shivajinagar station or turns left towards University road or takes a right turn towards Sancheti hospital. Traffic from Shivajinagar station takes a left turn to proceed towards Sancheti hospital.
On the road opposite Lok Mangal (Bank of Maharashtra building) we have a situation where some motorists travel from Revenue Colony and proceed in the direction of COEP through Sancheti chowk or going straight past Sancheti hospital towards the Courts. For doing this they have to change lanes from the right side to the left side and mind you the road is now a wide 6 lane one. In effect a vehicle travels across six lanes. This traffic and traffic coming from Shivajinagar station often criss cross each other.
This criss crossing of traffic is enacted on the other roads as well. All this endangers road safety. Add to it the pedestrians trying to cross the roads. The length of these roads is about 200 meters. This means that in length of 200 meters vehicles of different sizes, having different speeds try to avoid or outmanoeuvre each other as well as pedestrians in order to reach their destinations. It has become a high pressure zone for all drivers as well as pedestrians. Another factor contributing to the chaos is the width of these roads. Unlike other roads in Pune these three roads are very wide … so wide that now with one way traffic we have 6 lanes of road available. This in my opinion is also a big problem. With so much space available all the motorists tend to speed unduly and the criss cross pattern creates a hugely dangerous situation.
Another factor is the trees in the middle of the road from Modern Café chowk to Simla Office chowk. Earlier when the traffic was two way these trees were on the divider and were infact a soothing sight. They also blocked the glare of the lights of the oncoming traffic. Now the dividers have been removed we have trees right in the middle of the road! And people keep moving between the trees while changing lanes. Usually when driving a car a part of the road lies in the blind spot of the driver. This part is the one that comes behind the drivers side A pillar ( A pillar is the tilted column that holds the front wind screen). Many times I was surprised by vehicles who seemed to come from behind these trees and the blind spot.
In my opinion these roads were wide enough with three lanes on each side and these could have been retained as two way roads. With the dividers missing people tend to cross roads in an unregulated manner at any point. This distracts the driver. To overcome this pedestrian crossings have been created in the middle of the roads with the intention of regulating speed and making space available for pedestrians to safely cross the road. These are at an increased height going across the road. This is even more dangerous! So while driving one has to keep in mind the manhole covers that are below the road surface and these pedestrian crossings that are right across the road.
One way traffic should ideally be the last resort in traffic planning. The reasons of traffic congestion should first be addressed. There are some visible signs that lead to congestion on roads. One of it is the encroachment by shopkeepers. Almost all the shopkeepers and hotel owners illegally occupy the front part (even the footpaths) of their establishment. Shopkeepers use it to display their wares and hotels use it for putting more tables. Officially, is supposed to be used for parking. As a result the customers are forced to park on the roads. Parking on the roads results in blocking of one lane leading to reduction in the available carriage-width. Why can’t this space be brought for public use? Probably there is some sort arrangement between the shop-owners and PMC or it is pure inefficiency on the part of PMC. Either way the PMC is to be blamed for this.
While no one can doubt the intention of Pune Police to regulate the traffic, this change has resulted in some very basic issues in urban city planning. The term “City Planning” means planning of the city. In our country we let cities grow on their own in an unregulated manner. When some issues on infrastructure develop, there are half hearted attempts to divert the issues rather than resolve them. In city planning, first areas should be identified for the various purposes such as gardens, schools, utilities, residential and commercial zones. Then roads, drainage lines and power lines laid. Once these basics are in place then the construction for residential and commercial buildings should commence. Once these are in place then should people be invited to live there. Entire localities need to be developed like this.
Until City Planning happens in a planned manner we will continue to suffer the ill effects of the inefficiencies of the present way of “city planning”. It is really strange that whatever that could go wrong with city planning has gone wrong in Pune.
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