Plants, benches to make CSMT junction pedestrian-friendly

As part of its initiative to redesign major junctions in the city to make them pedestrian-friendly, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday started redesign work around Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and the BMC headquarters.

The plan is to make the junction outside CSMT more accessible on foot, similar to the popular Times Square in New York, City (NYC).

The BMC and traffic police, in collaboration with NACTO- Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) will extend curbs in order to shorten pedestrian crossings; establish dedicated parking spots; add benches, planters and pavers to make sidewalks more accessible and attractive to pedestrians,” the civic body said in a joint statement with its partners, on Tuesday.

The BMC has taken up this ‘Reclaiming Streets for Mumbai with the Global Street Design Guide’ project along with Mumbai traffic police and NACTO-GDCI under the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety.

The initiative will set guidelines for Indian cities to adopt while addressing the challenges of rapid urbanisation.

The BMC has approved 10 of 19 junctions for transformation across the city and work on the same is expected to commence over the next few months.

Apart from CSMT junction, HP Junction at Bandra, Nagpada junction, Wadala junction, Bharatmata junction, and LBS Marg will undergo makeovers soon.