Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has initiated the implementation of the Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme or SATIS at Badlapur railway station, and invited bids for planning, designing and project management consultancy.
At present, the road outside Badlapur station is as chaotic vis-à-vis traffic and pedestrian movement as any other station. Due to the confluence of multiple transport modes, the area is congested.
Objective
The objective is to improve the overall station access, provide integration with other public transport modes, improve passenger information system as well as traffic flow under the station, make the safe station area available for pedestrians with convenient transport switchover and improve aesthetics through urban design.
The project includes new broader pavements, shifting of bus stops, bus bays, private vehicle area, dedicated metro feeder through electric vehicles, route maps, signage, bicycle area, CCTV surveillance, street furniture and beautification, to name a few aspects.
A senior MMRDA official said that the upgrade would be carried out in a 500mt radius of the station area, which is the average walking distance for last mile connectivity to mass transit stations – railway and metro stations.
To recover construction as well as maintenance costs, revenue will be generated through pay-and-park as well as by leasing out advertising spaces.
In the past, SATIS has been implemented outside the western side of Thane railway station. Currently, a similar plan is being implemented in Thane East-Kopri side of the railway station. There were also plans to take World Bank assistance under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) to implement SATIS outside railway stations at Borivali, Dadar, Ghatkopar, Chembur, Andheri and Malad, but this never took off.
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