BMC Hosts Workshop to Enhance Engineer Skills for Safer, Inclusive Streets In Mumbai

Mumbai: The BMC on Wednesday conducted an interactive workshop for its engineers from the roads and traffic department on the topic of creating safer, inclusive and accessible streets for all road users. The objective of the training was to enhance and build the capacities of the civic engineers, which in turn, would help them implement infrastructure projects with knowledge of safe and sustainable street designs. The meticulous planning will prioritise vulnerable roadusers–pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

The ‘Enabling Safer Streets In Mumbai: A Capacity Building Workshop’ was hosted by the BMC in collaboration with partners from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) - WRI, India, and the Global Designing Cities Initiative. 

33 engineers participate in workshop

Around 33 engineers along with 15 urban and transport planners and designers working with the civic body attended the workshop. There was a session wherein the participants walked a 500-metre stretch from the Worli Engineering Hub to Worli Naka to understand the needs and challenges of the diverse users. Some of the engineers also blindfolded themselves and used a wheelchair to understand the needs of the differently-abled. 

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Infrastructure) Ulhas Mahale said, “The BMC is striving to make Mumbai streets safer and more accessible. Thisworkshop is an important step in our efforts to improve road safety in the city by implementing globally recognised urban mobility and street design principles.” 

The civic authorities have planned to expand the training to a larger scale at the civic training institute and research centre with detailed training modules for all the engineers, especially those working in the administrative wards.