Delhi BRTS snippets

No new BRT project will henceforth come up without commensurate augmentation of road space. Where it is not possible, no physical segregation of lanes will be done. The location of the bus lane will vary — on the left is less populated areas and in the centre where habitation is more. These were some of the decisions taken in a high level meeting on BRT chaired by the CM. Cutting Rites and IIT Delhi out of the picture, it was also decided that the detailed project reports (DPRs) for the Jahangirpuri-Moolchand and the Shastri Park- Karawal Nagar stretches — the latter will be extended by 3-4 km upto the Commownealth Games Village — will be done by Spanish consultants Advanced Logistics Group (ALG) SA. The engineering design would be done in the next six months and the projects will be in place before the Commonwealth Games, said a senior official who was present in the meeting. The others present in the meeting included transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, P K Tripathi, principal secretary to the chief minister and also in-charge of the Commonwealth Games, transport commissioner R K Verma and officials from DIMTS. Regarding the partially halted pilot project between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate, it has been decided that the next stage will also be flexi-BRT with the bus lane being on left in areas like Sunder Nagar and Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. The government though is in a fix about what to do with the four bus stops in the middle of the road near Lajpat Nagar and Defence Colony. With the Pilot B according to the initial plans outlines immediately after chief secretary Rakesh Mehta tool over set to be on the left, there is no use for these but officials are trying hard to avoid the embarrassment of uprooting the structures. The foot overbridge near Pushp Vihar is due to be commissioned in April. ‘‘The proposals for the other two FoBs are pending with the government. We are hoping to get the clearances by the end of this week,’’ said a transport official. ‘‘The entire concept is going to be made very flexible, right from the position of the bus lane to just line demarcation is some areas and physical segregation in others. It is not as if we are diluting the BRT concept because even in the beginning, the physical segregation was never there on flyovers etc. It is a formalisation of that,’’ said a senior official. Pedestrian facilities will be created near all major bus stops - roughly 10% of the bus stops on any stretch. Also on the cards is what government officials call a ‘‘serious redesigning of intersections’’ to do away with the bottlenecks at these areas. There is however little clarity on the real contours of the plan and officials are waiting for ALG to show the way.