WEH cycle track mustn’t fall prey to myopic planning

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and officials at the inauguration of the arm of the flyover at Kalanagar on Sunday. Pic/Sameer Markande

Mumbaikars will soon be able to cycle on the Western Express Highway (WEH). Aaditya Thackeray has claimed that a cycling track will be constructed on the stretch.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated one arm of the Kalanagar flyover and conducted the bhoomipujan of the Worli-Sewri connector and other projects, including a cycle track and a smart parking facility at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). Aaditya has been quoted in reports saying that they will construct a track at WEH just as the one at BKC.

While development and looking at uplifting arterial roads may be very well, it is extremely important that this proposed cycle track be started with a watertight plan, great vision and eye for the future.

When this young minister claimed that just like at BKC, we will have a cycle track at the WEH, perhaps it was not the best example to cite. The BKC track was ill-planned and did not really lead anywhere. Instead, it just went around the area.

It soon fell into disuse and misuse. Vehicles drove over the track and then it was used as a parking spot. This paper has had several reports and opinions about why one should have had the cycle track in the first place. It also cited the money wasted on a facility that has not been used and in fact, misused and abused.

While the state government's objective to make a city with dense traffic accessible to cyclists is good, great thought must be put into this track. Cyclists, even the national-level ones, can be invited to give suggestions and inputs. We all know the upsides of commuting on bicycles - fitter citizens and less pollution. We also know the downsides of haphazard and myopic infra planning - facilities that fall apart and taxpayers' money going down the drain. Let us not have the latter again.