The Hindu : He has a vision for the city's development

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

He has a vision for the city's development

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 21. With the Government giving the go-ahead for the Capital City Roads Improvement programme, the decks have been cleared for one of the most ambitious projects aimed at giving a facelift to the city and creating a better living environment.

The adviser to the Government on the programme, N.S. Srinivasan, is no stranger to the State capital. As founder-Director of the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), his association with the city goes back to 1976, when he was invited by the then Chief Minister, C. Achutha Menon, to establish the centre. He remained as Executive Director of NATPAC for 12 years before leaving the city.

In a chat with The Hindu , the 71-year-old engineer detailed his vision of reforming the city, which has been his second home for long. "It is the first time that such a comprehensive road and traffic improvement programme is being taken up for implementation in the country," he says.

Dr. Srinivasan's team started off with an eight-month long survey that covered traffic volume, speed and delay study, accident data, soil and surface studies and drainage network. After months of discussions at various levels, the team came up with the project, which essentially focuses on the development of a network of ring and radial roads to ease traffic congestion and enable horizontal expansion of the city. "The idea is to disperse the concentrated traffic from the core area of the city with the help of a scientifically evolved network covering 12 road corridors," he says.

"Over the last decade, the traffic density on the city roads has gone up by nearly four times while the average speed has come down to 20 km per hour. The accident rate per year is about 300 fatalities and 5,000 injuries. An incomplete road network and uneven traffic distribution are largely responsible for this situation," he says.

Dr. Srinivasan says the objective of the project is to work out a long-term plan keeping in view the development needs of the city for the next 15 years. Various components such as widening and development of junctions, segregation of bus bays, construction of flyovers, underpasses, pedestrian facilities, medians and islands, setting up of road signs, signals and street lighting and planting of avenue trees would be integrated.

As the man who has been credited with the development of the road network in Delhi and Bangalore, Dr. Srinivasan feels that the challenges in Thiruvananthapuram are entirely different. The challenge here is to implement the programme with limited resources, he says. Dr. Srinivasan says environmental concerns had been factored into the project. The proposed underpass across MG Road at Palayam has been designed with the environment in view. "A fly-over would have been cost- effective, but it would have marred the beauty of the church, the Juma Masjid and the Martyr's Column".

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