URBAN ROADS

摘要

Urban Roads refer to the primary network comprising of arterial roads of a city-region and provide intra-city and regional connectivity through rapid transit, high frequency public transit and motor vehicle movement. Urbanization, Cities and traffic have developed hand-in-hand since the earliest human settlements and forcing peoples to settle in large urban areas. India's population is steadily rising and as a result it is expected that India would become most populous country by 2050. Due to increase in population, there is many times increase in vehicles specially in urban areas. Travel in the city has become riskier with accident rates having gone up from 1.6 lakh in 1981 to over 3.6 lakh in 2020. The number of persons killed in road accidents has also gone up from 28,400 to over 58,736 during the same period. As per statics during the last five years from 2016 to 2020, top 10 million Plus Cities have been contributing in more than 46.84 percent of total road accidents in India. High speeds are one of the primary causes of road fatalities. Urban roads facilitating high vehicle speeds create unsafe environments for pedestrians/cyclists in particular. The high level of motorization also results in high level of pollution with negative health impact. In the present scenario, with enhanced socio-economic base, affordability of population has increased and the number of private motorized vehicles has increased significantly in recent decades. As a nation, there is no cap on owning private vehicles. Vehicle ownership continues to increase unchecked, supported with growing aspirations of a rapidly urbanizing society. Traffic congestion during peak hours in four major cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore) costs around 1.5 lakh crores annually. On the other side, country's urbanization presents a unique opportunity of ecologically and economically sustainable development. Since the launch of the Smart Cities Mission in 2015, sustainable, improved, and inclusive infrastructure has come to a focus. Building on the smart city elements, that is, road infrastructure, facilities for pedestrians, bicycle & NMT users, housing, developing open spaces, citizen friendly governance, etc.