Taking a leaf out of New York’s book, Mumbai now has received design proposals for 19 locations, where the existing geometry will be reworked to transform the space and make it safe for all road users.

Jannette Sadik-Khan, the former transport commissioner of New York City, was in Mumbai on Tuesday to share her expertise and knowledge at the ‘Reclaiming Streets for Mumbai with the Global Street Design Guide’. The discussion organised by the National Association of City Transportation Officials - Global Designing Cities Initiative (NATCO-GDCI) under the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety revolved around how the organisations would to provide technical assistance to Mumbai on safe and sustainable street design.

GDCI has submitted the design proposals for 19 locations in Mumbai and has started working on three sites: Mith chowky in Malad, Dharavi and Noor Hospital. The design proposed by GDCI accounts for the existing geometry to transform the space and make it safe for all road users.

Ms. Sadik-Khan, who is also the chair of NACTO-GDCI, said, “For decades, designers have planned streets from a sort of dashboard view of the road, from behind the windshield. The fact is that in Mumbai, around 80% of the population travels by motor bikes, walking and public transport.” Ms. Sadik-Khan said Mumbai’s roads do not reflect that only 15% of citizens use cars.

“The streets which are designed for cars are now full of them. Building roads cannot solve the problem of congestion, rather it creates more congestion. Around 1.3 million people die on the road every year all around the globe,” she said, adding the problem is completely preventable.

NACTO-GDCI is working with the Brihanamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Traffic Police to finalise the designs before carrying out trials. The trial will be complemented by data collection to evaluate their impact.

Vinod Chitore, Chief Engineer (roads), BMC, said the proposals are based on the recently released Global Street Design Guide, which aims to distribute the road space more equitably among different groups of people using it and to prioritise the most vulnerable road users: pedestrians, children, the elderly, and those with disabilities.

“Simple, yet effective strategies around lane alignment, effective pedestrian crosswalks, and reclaiming under-utilised road space for new public areas have been used to channelise the movement of vehicles in an efficient and logical manner and provide the pedestrians with a safe and comfortable environment,” he said.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Singhal said the administration needs to focus on the design part rather than constructing too many roads.“The more important thing is how we utilise the extra area on the roads and how to provide an area specifically for pedestrians. In Mumbai we need to re-design intersections, junctions and the tremendous empty space that is available,” he said.

Mr. Singhal said the initiative won’t require a lot of money, and the city is already spending ₹20 billion on the road tenders.

Abhimanyu Prakash, programme manager, GDCI, said community workshops and engagements are going to be a part of this initiative. He said, “We have to work with the people of Mumbai and stakeholders who use the space on a daily basis. We can carry out trials with the support of the people in the administration, activists, legal experts and daily commuters. If the streets of Mumbai have to change, we need to act now.”