Mumbai: BMC to make 20 'black spots' safer with design changes

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 6 : Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will transform the city's 20 highest crash-prone intersections, also known as 'black spots' to make Mumbai traffic junctions safer for the public, said officials on Thursday.
According to a BMC official statement, the corporation will work in collaboration with partners from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).
"As per the instructions from Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal and under the guidance of Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) P Velrasu, to make the junctions safer for all road users, especially pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, who are most vulnerable to road crashes, BMC will receive technical assistance from BIGRS partners including the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), India to redesign the 20 deadliest traffic intersections in the city," the statement said.
A regional meeting regarding this subject was concluded on Thursday.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Deputy Commissioner Ulhas Mahale and Chief Engineer (Roads and Traffic) Manish Kumar Patel were present on this occasion.
Experts and foreign dignitaries visited and inspected the five black spots in Mumbai after the meeting.
Meanwhile, they reviewed the various measures undertaken by BMC at black spot locations.
"These locations are a priority since they record a high number of deaths and injuries compared to other locations in the city. We will introduce design changes at these locations to reduce the number of crashes and save lives. BMC engineers are working along with the BIGRS partners to transform these junctions," said Ulhas Mahale, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Infrastructure).
WRI India and GDCI surveyed the black spots in 2021-22 and are now preparing designs to upgrade the infrastructure of these junctions and roads to make them safer for vulnerable road users - pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists alike.
To reduce the number of crashes, fatalities, and serious injuries, and make the junctions safe to navigate, BMC, WRI, and GDCI will utilize varied infrastructure interventions like widening pedestrian crossings and sidewalks, the addition of new refuge areas to reduce crossing distances, and traffic calming measures including speed breakers, and rumble strips.
Dhawal Ashar, Program Head, Integrated Transport, WRI India, a partner under the BIGRS, said, "Providing adequate pedestrian infrastructure allows people to walk, stop and cross safely, thereby reducing the number of times they come in direct conflict with vehicles. This means designing for pedestrians will make the street 1. Safer for all road users, 2. Reduce conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles and 3. Also, smoothen and streamline traffic flow."
WRI, India is working with the BMC on 12 junctions, including Amar Mahal.
Abhimanyu Prakash, Regional Lead, Asia and Africa, GDCI, a partner under BIGRS, said that in collaboration with BMC, GDCI is rethinking the possibilities at these high-risk locations based on principles from the Global Street Design Guide, a set of design guidelines officially endorsed by and for the city of Mumbai.
"The toolkit of strategies being applied include widening pedestrian crossings and sidewalks, adding new refuge areas, and implementing traffic calming measures such as speed humps, and rumble strips," he further said.
Additionally, lane alignment and a narrowing will be applied at select locations to not only make the streets safer but also smoothen traffic flows.
"In line with our long-term goal of reducing road crashes in the city, we are complementing these interventions with training for BMC engineers and with the Mumbai traffic police department to equip staff with the knowledge of fundamentals of safe and sustainable street designs," he added.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), blackspot is a stretch of 500m on the national highway, state highway and urban roads where for the past consecutive three years in total 5 serious road crashes or crashes led to the deaths or cumulatively 10 or more deaths.
The BMC has listed 20 high-risk roads which include Amar Mahal Junction, Tilak Nagar, Ghatkopar, Intersection of EEH and JVLR, Kanjurmarg (East), Intersection of WEH and Sion Bandra Link Road (Kalanagar Junction), Bandra (East), Intersection of WEH and Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Santacruz (East), Intersection Of Ghatkopar Andheri Link Road and Eastern Express Highway, Ghatkopar (East), Priyadarshini Junction, Sion-Chembur, Intersection of WEH and JVLR, Jogeshwari (East), Intersection of Eastern Freeway and Ghatkopar - Mankhurd Link Road, Govandi (West), Sion Circle Junction, Sion (West), Intersection of WEH and Akurli Road, Kandivali (East), Intersection of WEH and Goregaon Mulund Link Road, Goregaon (East), King Circle Junction, Matunga (East), Intersection of WEH and N.S.Phadke Marg, Andheri (East).