A people-led campaign to popularise bicycling and to demand the rightful share of space on the road for bicyclists is gathering momentum in the city, with cyclists from different parts of the district converging at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium on June 5 - World Environment Day.
This comes even as Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) has developed smart roads having cycle lanes, in the western side of the city hub. Stakeholders are also probing the potential to develop cycle lanes on either side of the 4-km-long MG Road-Pullepady-Thammanam-NH Bypass corridor that is expected to be widened as a 22-m wide four-lane road by the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB).
The road shoulder on either side of the corridor could be set apart for bicyclists. A recommendation in this regard has been made, since Kochi Corporation has a slated policy to have cycle lanes on new road corridors. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) which is funding the project must concur with this. Else the road's width would have to increased by a metre on either side, to accommodate cycle lanes. The road could thus become an inclusive designed road, official sources said.
The organisers of the cycling activity- cum-rally proposed on June 5 have taken cue from the UN observing the 2021-2030 period as ‘a decade to restore the eco-system.’. People can register online at www.suryakranti.org.
There is no registration fee, no flagging off, no speeches, neither are there any sponsors, said Santosh Thannikkat, a solar power enthusiast who is among the organisers. The main starting points of the proposed event named Kochi Metro Cycle Path are Aluva, Chitoor, Thevara, Fort Kochi, Kakkanad, Pookattupady, Cheranaloor, Tripunithura and Vyttila.
“Participants will be able to provide feedback on the condition of roads, potential dangerous issues. This will help ready a masterplan that could be submitted to agencies like CSML and KMRL. Our aim is to rally to create safe cycle paths, to install signages and traffic lights for bicyclists and to fix a speed limit for motorised vehicles on byroads. People would thus be able to safely bicycle even from the suburbs to the city and back,” Mr Thannikkat said.
