Makeover for Flyover

Flyover designs to be more bus / pedestrian-centric rather than car-centric

Maximum use of the space underneath the flyovers should be considered while designing the columns and providing for space between the columns when there is large traffic under the flyover (in fact there is more traffic below than above in case of this flyover). Another qualitative aspect to be considered in the flyover design is the possibility of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). This works best if we provide it in the center rather than on the sides. But parallel flyovers such as the ones built in Mumbai and other cities in India create a problem. At a junction, cross traffic is under the flyover and if we run the buses below the flyover – i.e. on both the sides, they will travel in a slower and interrupted manner. But when you run the buses on the flyover, they will miss many passengers who stand below the flyovers. The solution for this problem is to split the flyover so that it is on both extremes of the road with the buses running in between but at level and not on the flyover. One of the reasons for the success of BRTS at Ahmedabad is its split flyovers.

The pedestrians are the most important stakeholders when it comes to the roads or even the flyover design. At the Santa Cruz flyover, the skywalk originates at the train station and has to cross the western express highway. There are hundreds of people every half an hour wanting to cross the highway at one level (at the skywalk level) but the flyover built with 5.5m clearance cannot accept the skywalk just below the flyover. So, the pedestrians will have to walk down before the highway and cross the highway at the level (or really underpass which is one level below and which nobody likes to do). If all pedestrians can be at the skywalk level then we will have the best segregation, safety and comfort for pedestrians and very short time cycle for the red signal! It is really worth considering the raising of flyover by 3ft to just allow the skywalks to traverse across the highway below the flyover level if we really believe that we are pedestrian friendly- it is a challenge worth taking for the structural engineering team of MMRDA.

Santa Cruz flyover can’t permit the skywalk to cross underneath

We expected this virtually zero cost and simple suggestion to be willingly and quickly implemented. But, though the traffic police not only orally supported the project but also wrote to the MSRDC about the advantage of this arrangement, it wasn’t implemented. It was agreed to simply provide pillar protection, clean the surface in the ‘middle lane’, put an additional traffic signal and mark the right turns to inform the traffic about the direction of movement by proper marking on the road. This looked simple as it involved a cost of only र5 lakh and needed about two weeks for completion. But it took us six months to complete this on one side. And that too was a shortened version of the plan since there was a ramshackle garden which was privately developed!

If we want to make Mumbai neat and clean (we will worry about world class a little later), it is important that we clean up the huge space under each flyover in a serious and comprehensive manner. In fact, if we do this properly, we can get corporate sponsors to pick up the tab against the advertising rights.

Proposed makeover for Santa Cruz flyover (underneath)

The above make over plan will allow systematic and organised parking with proper sized boxes for trucks, buses, cars and autos. It provides for not only the right turning lanes under the columns but also effects 30% more throughput of vehicles, and a calmer and safer junction box (with no encroachment from right turning vehicles during red or amber lights). It will give the entire area an organised and tidy look instead of the current sight of garbage dumps at many places across the stretch. This can serve as a model for several other flyovers already built or to be built in the future.