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As pedestrian spaces in the congested capital continue to shrink due to the negligence of all concerned, the Dhaka city's transport plan for the next 20 years has proposed developing skywalks in commercial areas to improve walkability.
The Strategic Transport Plan (STP) 2025, with its draft finalised up to 2045, also recommends widening the existing footpaths by reducing the width of roads as an alternative to better accommodate pedestrians' daily movement.
The STP 2025 has proposed widening pedestrian walkways in Dhaka by reducing the width of primary arterial roads, secondary arterial roads, and collector roads.
The width of roads in the built-up areas is mostly between five and seven metres, with some measuring less than three metres, it noted.
"Pedestrian infrastructure is inadequate, with narrow, obstructed, and unsafe crossings," it said, recommending the formulation of pedestrian-friendly urban policies.
Though the latest STP cites examples of skywalks in Bangkok and Jakarta, there are no details about the scope for building such infrastructure in the Dhaka city area.
The scope for constructing footbridges or underpasses was not mentioned in the draft either, which was shared by Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA).
DTCA conducted the study and revised the 20-year transport plan.
Pedestrian facilities in Dhaka are constrained, with walking speed remaining below the standard of two to three kilometres per hour due to footpaths being occupied by hawkers and destroyed during road construction or the implementation of utility projects.
According to the Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study carried out in 2009, walking accounted for 20 per cent of the trips made mostly by the city people who were unable to use public transports due to financial insolvency.
The "pedestrian first" approach was given the first priority in all transport projects in the STP first formulated in 2005.
However, due to the lack of policy or focus on pedestrians, the city's important footbridges and footpaths were removed in many important areas, including Jatrabari, Sayedabad, and Moghbazar, during the construction of flyovers in the last 20 years.
The STP 2025 also lacks this, though one of its important objectives is to ensure safe mobility and the city environment.
smunima@yahoo.com