COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN - Puri District

Comprehensive Development Plan – PKDA 2031Map 7.9: Pedestrian movement hierarchy: Puri townSource: CEPT survey & AnalysisIt can be attributed that the maximum concentration of pedestrians can be found at the grand roadfollowed by the marine drive road. Correlating it with the V/C ratio of the same it can be attributedthat the congestion levels are rather high. Also the presence of pedestrian infrastructure in the form ofdedicated footpaths is conspicuously absent. It should also be understood at this point that thepossibility of grade differences in the grand road is not possible since it hosts the Rath Yatra whenthousands of pilgrims gather along this corridor.7.3.3.3 ObservationsPuri is accessible to the tourists both by rail and by road (buses and private vehicles) and consideringtourist movement the Grand Road; it makes the Grand Road the most congested, which is followed byNH203 and Station Road within the city limits. Residential movement pattern is also found to be themaximum on The Grand Road and the Station Road.Being a temple town, the city has large volume of pedestrian traffic and therefore a properpedestrian walkway system needs to be put in place. The main spine and the most affected is theGrand road with a width of 50m on an average which goes up to 100m near Gundicha temple andreduces to 45m near Jagannath temple.Puri town lacks a rigid traffic control system. Traffic management and control at main intersections ismarginal. The varied composition of the traffic from bullock carts to fast moving cars adds to thecongestion and chaos of the roads within the city.Presently there exists no proper co-ordination between different local authorities for smooth andefficient management of traffic. Although, during festive seasons, co-ordination committees are set upfor providing one way traffic routes, parking places and other requirements.CEPT, Ahmedabad 157