Propositions

Aim:

Improving the suburban train commuter’s experience by reducing the pedestrian-vehicular conflict in station areas using Kandivali Railway Station (W) area as a case study.

Objectives:

To frame guidelines which can be applied to various other station areas in the Mumbai suburban region;
To provide universal accessibility;
To improve vehicular flows by reorganising the vehicular traffic movement and drop-off / pick-up points of passengers;
To improve pedestrian flows and reduce overcrowding in station areas;
To increase walkable space for pedestrians;
To regulate vendors through designating vending zones / pitch sizes.

Design questions:

How can we enhance the experience of station areas to make it more functional and safe for pedestrians? How can we prioritize pedestrians on an street that caters largely to vehicular movement?
What changes could be made to the existing hawker placements for providing a smooth transit for passengers and hawkers ?

Interventions:

Road and junction:

Marking the junctions as ‘no stop zones’ to reduce overcrowding at those places..
Introducing a traffic signal at the junction to manage the vehicular traffic.
Increasing walkable areas on the roads by 1.8 metres through road painting.
Designating specific locations for auto rickshaw stand, as pick-up and drop-off points.
Reorganising the bus routes to disperse vehicular traffic.
Using M30 concrete panels for footpaths and maintaining a kerb height of 150mm throughout.
Adding signages and informative banners at specific spots for wayfinding.
Adding ramps and tactile tiles for universal accessibility.

Market Street:

Regulating vendors by limiting them to a 1.2m x 1.2m pitch size to set up their shops.
Making niche-like spaces between the shops for people to stop while buying things from the vendors.
Widening the clear walkable area to 4 metres with an additional width of minimum 0.6 metres as frontage area for the shops.
Using M30 concrete panels for pavement and maintaining the same level throughout

Principles: