The government has finalised the blueprint of the transport plan for the Commonwealth Games 2010. The plan includes a brand new fleet of 2,138 buses exclusively for sportsmen and spectators. This was revealed in a presentation made by the Transport department to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday.
"Twenty-six focal points have been identified for visitors and 1,319 buses from the fleet will ply between these focal points and the Games sites. The rest of the buses will be used for park-and-ride facilities and shuttle services for Metro and BRT stations," said a senior transport official. Twenty-one new bus depots are to be built for these buses. There are also plans of having a separate dedicated fleet of 434 AC buses and another 51 auxiliary vehicles and recovery vans exclusively for sportspersons and their families.
There will also be dedicated lanes for the Games traffic on Pushta Road, Vikas Marg, Ring Road and Nizammuddin Bridge. A 3.5 km-long lane will be maintained on these roads for Games traffic alone. "No physical barriers are being erected for these dedicated lanes, as the government plans to regulate it through strict police control," said the officer.
An estimate of the traffic volume expected during the Games, however, reveals a bleak scenario. The Ring Road and Nizamuddin Bridge are expected to be among the busiest routes, with 12,726 and 16,336 vehicles per hour respectively during peak hours.
The Delhi Government also plans to carry out major renovation on several important roads. Among them, the Ring Road will be widened to eight lanes.
Khel Gaon Marg will be widened to include one more lane by covering the drain from the Siri Fort Road to the Outer Ring Road
Traffic intersections between Nizammuddin and ITO are also expected to see major transformation.
Source:ExpressIndia.com July24th,2008.
