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Urban planners are facing a ‘‘big’’ problem when it comes to easing traffic congestion in the city. Narrow roads aren’t the only problem, for authorities are working at widening them. It’s the Amdavadis’ penchant for big cars and SUVs that is proving to be a huge roadblock.

And interestingly, while town planners believe big cars are adding to the traffic snarls, some top officials in civic bodies don’t think so.

That enterprising Gujaratis are eyeing big cars and SUVs is quite evident from the rising number of the Corollas, Taveras, Innovas and Scorpios being sold in the city. In 2005-06 (till March 2006), the city has seen 416 Toyota Innovas, 396 Tata Indigos, 137 Tata Scorpios, 92 Chevrolet Taveras, 60 Skodas, 22 Mercedes Benz’ and 137 Chevrolet Optras roll out. Others — like Honda Accord (42) and Hyundai Sonata (10) — have also hit the road.

This is along side the steady sale of cars in the mid-sized and small-sized segments.

Town planning experts believe ‘‘big cars’’ are contributing to traffic snarls and congestion in the city. Says urban planner Saswat Bandhopadhyay: ‘‘The volume and capacity ratio is an indicator for congestion on a particular road. With the increase in the number of big-sized cars, the volume of traffic has increased.’’

At many places it has exceeded the limits, he says. Infrastructural hurdles are another, says Bandhopadhyay, adding, ‘‘Look at the road leading to IIM-A, it has no divider.”

Though AUDA is involved in surfacing and widening of roads in areas, including Ghatlodia, Chandlodia, Ranip, Memnagar, Jodhpur and Vejalpur, widening alone is not the solution, say experts.

‘‘They have started widening roads without any planning. There is no scientific basis and widening is not the solution to the traffic congestion,’’ says Bandhopadhyay. “The size of the car and the space it occupies on the road are major contributors towards congestion.’’

However, officials at AUDA beg to differ.

Says Executive Engineer, AUDA, J D Shah, ‘‘There is no relation between congestion and the size of the car. Congestion on the road is inevitable.’’

And listen to his take on congestion: ‘‘What difference will it make if the person reaches his destination a little late? Congestion makes driving more enjoyable.’’ Tell that to those stuck in a jam for more than 10 minutes. Or to those stuck in traffic in the congested Walled City areas.

But his deputy too dismisses the theory of big cars adding to congestion. ‘‘It’s only when big cars are parked on the driving lane that it makes life difficult for others, otherwise traffic moves quite smoothly,’’ says Deputy Executive Engineer, AUDA, A K Pathak.

Urban planner Prashant De disagrees. ‘‘A big car will take more space, and therefore it’s obvious that traffic congestion will be there on roads that aren’t well-equipped to handle the flow.’’

‘‘The second reason for congestion is poor planning. In fact, there’s no planning or estimation about how to design a road, what should be the size and what volume would it serve. Parking of these cars also adds to the chaos,’’ he says.

Shah offers some solutions: ‘‘We are planning standardisation of AUDA roads, including road gradient features. The problem is that there are encroachments and people don’t follow the traffic rules.’’

I A Patel, Deputy City Engineer (West Zone), AMC, admits to the problem. ‘‘Traffic congestion has increased because of the rising number of big-sized four-wheelers. Another reason is that roads are not wide enough and because of encroachments it’s difficult to manoeuvre these cars.’’

And with Maybachs and Rolls Royces coming in, the big picture may only be driving Ahmedabad’s urban planners up the wall.

Charging for congestion?
Charging drivers directly for road use — called road pricing, road user charging or congestion charging — could be one way of reducing traffic congestion in the Walled City areas. Two cities, London and Durham, have adopted some form of congestion charging with favourable results. London introduced the charge for a busy ring road in February 2003. What happened after that? Congestion inside the charging zone dropped by 30 per cent and traffic levels by 18 per cent (there’s been a 30 per cent reduction in number of cars). Bus reliability as well as journey times have improved. The toll was introduced in the Durham city centre in October 2002. Till now, there’s been a reduction of 85 per cent in vehicular traffic, reduced vehicle emissions and a 10 per cent increase in pedestrian activity. Apart from London and Durham, the Norwegian city of Troindheim and Singapore also tax drivers for using certain roads.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/060423/48/63qn1.html

Jay

Lets all call the Jinns, since they can fly, lets tag along them.

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Asim Aquil

Monorails! And hire me for the design planning!