[sustran] Re: Fwd: [UTSG] Transitioning countries, traffic operations and demands for expensive engineering solutions

[Bina C.Balakrishnan]

Hi Rob,


I have always found that discussing with the stakeholders makes a huge
difference. Have you had talks with the people immediately affected by the
proposed construction?


Is this project funded by the local authorities? If so, I don’t think this
will work, and you may have very few options. But if its by another funding
agency, get them to organise a workshop which will actually be a public
consultation or public participation.


What I would do is:

-          Spend a little time and money and make sketch plans of the
possible alternatives

-          Get visuals of other places in the world where this approach has
worked (this is a very powerful tool)

-          Prepare a power point presentation with a comparative statement /
chart with lots of visuals about the negative impact of the grade separator
construction, ESPECIALLY its impact on the residents in its immediate
vicinity, vis-a-vis visuals of your more environmentally friendly
recommendation

-          Call a workshop of ALL stakeholders and present this at the
workshop. You will need lots of visuals, and limited text. Invite planners,
engineers, decision makers, residents, shop owners, business community,
activists, Chambers of Commerce, academics, university heads, etc etc.

-          Make sure you have representation from all the newspapers and
other media. If this place is in India, the media is very powerful. And I
mean IS VERY powerful.

-          Make sure you include impacts on climate change, public health
(esp air pollution and respiratory diseases), flooding, accidents, safety,
etc etc. Include benefits to the residents.

-          Also include the impact of disruption during construction (plus a
lot of stuff)

-          If this is India, it will be all over the papers the next day.
This should tip the balance in your favour.

We’ve used this approach in the past. Of course, we didn’t have the kind of
opposition you seem to be facing, but we certainly got the people to accept
what we were offering – and very unconventional offerings too. I’m guessing
the politicians would like to win the next election?



Best


Bina

On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Paul Barter <peebeebarter at gmail.com> wrote:

> This question (below) from the UK's UTSG list looks like a case that will
> be
> familiar to many sustran-discussers. Robert Bain might appreciate your
> insights, references or cases. I don't think he is on this list, so cc him
> if you direct your answers to sustran-discuss.
>
> Paul
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Robert Bain <info at robbain.com>
> Date: 29 October 2010 17:20
> Subject: [UTSG] Transitioning countries, traffic operations and demands for
> expensive engineering solutions
> To: UTSG at jiscmail.ac.uk
>
> Hi
>
> If any list member is familiar with the following situation, could you
> please get in touch with me on info at robbain.com
>
> Two congested intersections impede the flow of traffic heading towards (and
> away from) a city centre.  There are local calls to grade-separate the
> intersections (expensive).  But effective operations at the intersections
> are hampered by friction (eg. vendor stalls), uncontrolled parking, private
> minibuses stopping at random etc.  Addressing these issues would go a long
> way to improving vehicle throughput - but local powers insist on their
> grand
> engineering solutions.
>
> There must be case-studies which have examined such situations - that could
> be used to counter the arguments for big engineering solutions.  Otherwise
> we're not addressing the fundamental problem - and will soon face calls for
> other expensive design solutions to be developed at other pinch-points on
> the network.
>
> Any thoughts or references, any one?
>
> Regards,
>
> Rob
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-- 
Bina C. Balakrishnan
Consultant -
Sustainable Transportation Policy, Planning & Management
Mumbai, India

Cell:    +91 98339 00108

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