Jaipur: Jaipur Development Authority’s (JDA) Rs 12 crore project to make Mahal Road signal-free has come under scrutiny over the design of its U-turn bays, with road-safety experts and JDA engineers warning that the intervention could worsen congestion and pose risks to pedestrians.The project envisages seven U-turn bays from Jagatpura RoB till the Dravyavati River culvert on Mahal Road, four of which have been completed and will be open to traffic from Monday.Team TOI visited a bay between AU Bank headquarters and Capital Mall, intended to serve traffic from Akshaya Patra Chauraha and Bombay Hospital Tiraha. Though the bay is yet to open to vehicles, pedestrians have already started using its central platform, forcing them to cross carriageways on either side without crossing facilities.Experts said the bays were not wide enough for buses and heavy vehicles to negotiate U-turns and had reduced the width of the main carriageway, creating bottlenecks. They also flagged the lack of pedestrian infrastructure.“In no way is the width of the bays ideal for big vehicles to take U-turns. The bays have considerably reduced the main carriageways of Mahal Road, and it has already started showing signs of congestion,” said Neha Khullar, executive director, Muskaan Foundation for Road Safety.JDA commissioner Siddharth Mahajan did not comment on the concerns.A senior JDA engineer said the authority had sought the views of Sewa Ram, transport planning professor at SPA Delhi, as well as experts from IIT Guwahati, after objections were raised by experts, including a retired JDA additional chief engineer.Officials said the design was adopted after Mahajan joined as commissioner following his stint in Delhi. JDA engineers had studied a similar arrangement near AIIMS, New Delhi, before finalising the plan.“The U-turns were planned and built to accommodate projected traffic growth for the next decade. Pre-construction surveys and current observations show they adequately manage movement on this stretch. If Rs 10 crore can solve the problem, spending Rs 500 crore on flyovers is financially unjustifiable,” stated an engineerThe project has also triggered questions over JDA’s efforts to showcase the U-turn. An official claimed JDA officials hired a bus and took social media influencers to the site to promote utilisation of the bay on the busy road.
