Roads Citizen Matters

Char Dham highway project will only add to urban woes

November 27, 2020 Rishabh Shrivastava

While the big focus is on mobility, the ramifications of the Char Dham project on urban ecology of the several small towns situated on the highway deserve more scrutiny.

Hyderabad pavements tell you why a third of its accident victims are pedestrians

November 19, 2020 Kolla Krishna Madhavi

In most places, hawkers and shops have taken over the footpaths; besides, different departments dig them up for installing electric poles, transmission lines and transformers.

Shimla’s old tunnels are crying for attention; planned ones in limbo

October 8, 2020 Ashwani Sharma

Maintenance of its British-era tunnels and creation of new ones could be effective solutions to mobility challenges in the hill town. But clearly, government priorities lie elsewhere.

Cycle sales doubles in Ahmedabad; what’s getting bikers excited?

August 20, 2020 Binita Parikh

With staying fit being touted as an effective way to ward off the coronavirus, Ahmedabadis are discovering that cycling offers an enjoyable option. And the municipal corporation is eager to promote this trend.

Pune: Destroying a hill to build a road of dubious necessity

July 20, 2020 Ambika Shaligram

Citizen groups have strongly opposed the proposed 2.1 km Bal Bharati-Paud Phata link road through Vetal Tekadi and the slopes of Law College Tekadi, home to rare flora and fauna species.

Rs 15 crore spent on potholes over two years, yet Mumbai roads continue to be death traps

November 27, 2019 Jahanvi J

An RTI filed by a social activist shows that the civic body spent over Rs 15 crore to fill 8,879 potholes on Mumbai roads in the last two years; yet, accidents due to bad roads are on the rise, with three fatalities in October alone. Is citizen action the only solution?

Commuter lives at risk as rains leave Bhopal roads riddled with potholes

November 22, 2019 Shuriah Niazi

Heavy rains have affected nearly 300 km of roads in the city. Innumerable potholes dot most roads which have become death traps for commuters, especially two-wheeler users. However, it is anybody’s guess when restoration work will begin in most of these areas.

Will Mangaluru’s ‘Selfie with Pothole’ campaign yield results as new local council takes office?

November 19, 2019 Harsha Raj Gatty

The campaign was launched ahead of the recently conducted local body elections in the hope that citizens would remember the state of road infrastructure when they cast their votes; it is now to be seen whether elected council members will take note and act on it.

Many problems, one humble solution, yet Indian cities continue to ignore that

October 1, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

Lessons learnt globally point to the many benefits of cycling — whether in terms of health, reduced congestion or even greater equality. Yet, whether in Kolkata, Bangalore or Pune, a sustained thrust to promote cycling in our cities is clearly missing.

Mitigating the curse of the car in Indian cities

September 2, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

On one hand, there is a thirst for bigger and more expensive cars. On the other, there is the state’s inability to provide strong enough disincentives and efficient alternatives. Together these are destroying our cities and our communities slowly but steadily. What is the way out?

Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru, our cities treat pedestrians as second class citizens

August 21, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

In 2018, pedestrians comprised more than 50% fatalities on Mumbai streets; the numbers for Delhi and Bangalore stood at 44% and 40%. Our streets have turned into a battlefield between cars and citizens, and citizens almost always lose.

Where cars are king and pedestrians their slaves

August 17, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

Thanks to lack of political will and unfortunate US-style aspiration, we have arrived at a sad state of affairs as far as urban mobility is concerned. In this first of a four-part series, the author explains the latent inequality and hierarchy in our city streets.

Ludhiana’s bridge of chaos makes life miserable for commuters

July 31, 2019 Raj Machhan

The old British built Jagraon bridge, that shared the traffic, has been closed since 2016, so that the new bridge sees pile up lasting for hours at peak times. Work on a new bridge, however, remains in limbo, as do many other infrastructure projects in the city.

12 years and 1100 crores behind it, Pune BRTS fails to solve commuter woes

July 25, 2019 Ekta Joshi

Flawed design, poor implementation, and the near absence of a centralized authority has left the bus rapid transit system in shambles, with infrequent buses, shabby and ailing infrastructure, and road mishaps on these corridors being the norm.

City Buzz : Fani hits Odisha and W Bengal | BMC’s plastic headache | Charminar suffers damage…and more

May 5, 2019 News Desk

Catch your weekly dose of some of the most important local news from cities across India.