They asked me whether I prefer the underpass over the footbridge while crossing a road. I replied: "underpass." When they asked why, I said, “When using the underpass, you need to go down instead of climbing up. That’s easier because you are not working against gravity.”
One of the students then told me that after crossing the road, I need to climb up the stairs, so what’s the difference?
I had no answer.
Later, while conversing with one of my architect friends, I figured out the answer. Psychologically it’s easier to start crossing the road by going down rather than climbing up the stairs. I, however, didn’t have any research findings to back my idea up.
Since I didn’t take any contact numbers from those students, I couldn’t know the outcome of their survey either. Later, I conducted a small survey among my friends trying to figure out whether people choose the footbridge or the underpass. I got a mixed response.
Most of them, however, said one thing: they always prefer jaywalking to cross the road more than they prefer taking either of those two options.
Jaywalking rulesThe truth is that the purpose of building underpasses and footbridges is lost because people still prefer jaywalking as the prime option for getting to the other side of the road.
Dhaka is one of the worst pedestrian-friendly cities in the world. Walking along its footpath has been a difficult task due to rampant encroachment made by different vendors. Adding to the woes of pedestrians is the nuisance created by motorcyclists who suddenly invade footpaths trying to avoid traffic on the roads.
Dhaka Metropolitan City has about 2290km of roads and the total length of footpaths is only 388km. Yet a study conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2010 showed that from 20 million daily Dhaka commuters, 30% commute on foot travelling between 0 to 2.5km distances.
This huge number of pedestrians has to cross the road for a number of times on a single day. There are 54 footbridges in total and three underpasses in the capital, however, those are not enough to support the high number of commuters.
Ironically, even these footbridges and underpasses are lying unused as people get too impatient to cross roads and don’t bother walking that "extra mile" while getting to the other side of the road.
The sorry state of footbridgesBesides, lying unused, several of the footbridges are in dilapidated condition; hawkers have made some of the bridges their trading ground and eveteasers choose these spots as their playing field.
The bridges located at the busy points or adjacent market are mostly taken up by hawkers as they have positioned their make-shift shops to make way for quick sales.
Farmgate, the area with the capital’s heaviest traffic has three footbridges as major inter-city buses use the route but people still jaywalk there as the bridges are occupied by hawkers and their customers. Moreover, it is also a thriving ground for pickpockets.
Meanwhile, the biggest footbridges in the capital located at the Mirpur -10 Chottor is also mostly occupied by hawkers that sell mobile phone covers, trinkets, toys, peanuts, fruits, hosiery, cosmetics and several other things.
Bridges which are not occupied by hawkers, like those situated on VIP road or next to educational institutions are in dire states. The footbridge located on Mirpur road next to Dhanmondi Govt Boys has grass growing on it.
The footbridge located at Suritola next to Suritola Primary School has become the local man's dustbin. Kakrail's overbridge located in front of Wills Little Flower School is suffering the same fate. It is to be noted that one of the students of this school died two years ago under the bridge while he was jaywalking during a busy hour.
Some of the bridges even become a safe place for drug abusers. The bridges located at BUET, Azimpur, Baridhara Natun Bazaar, BAF officers mess and Bangla College are becoming the ideal spot for drug abusers especially since after a certain hour, those bridges have zero traffic.
Better cases for underpassesThe three underpasses in Dhaka- Gulistan under the Dhaka South City Corporation and Karwan Bazar and Gabtoli underpass under the Dhaka North City Corporation experience relatively more traffic than footbridges.
Aside from the Gulistan underpasses that house full-fledged markets, the two underpasses were in a very sorry state before the Mitsubishi Corporation took the responsibility of transforming the Gabtoli underpass and the underpass near ATN News and IFIC Bank.
Now these two underpasses have become aesthetic and functional and a huge number of people use it on a daily basis.
The Gulistan underpass, however, is also in derelict condition, with no repair work having been done for many years. It houses a total of 104 shops in the underground market and the owners association have been asking the civic body to repair it for a long time now.
Meanwhile, the government intends to build two new underpasses connecting the parliament to NAM Bhaban while another is between Shahjalal International Airport and Airport railway station in the capital.
The new underpasses, however, will be built with multipurpose usage facilities akin to a tunnel, sources shared.
Other solutions?Dr Sarwar Jahan, professor of Urban and Regional Planning Department of BUET said that both footbridges and underpasses are constructed in the city to facilitate smooth walking pathways for pedestrians.
“However, modern cities across the world have regulated traffic management and strong enforcement which makes crossing roads through zebra crossing possible. In Dhaka, people are too impatient and traffic systems are not at all regulated, so using zebra crossing becomes a distant possibility here.”
He said that the city planners should look at alternative infrastructure which are more pedestrian-friendly to curb jaywalking. “The truth is footbridges or underpasses are no longer the preferred choice for pedestrians’ world over. Structures like half-elevated roads with subways are advisable and I think Dhaka should consider building these.”
