Indian city roads carry far more than traffic—yet low land allocation leaves them overburdened, chaotic, and central to urban dysfunction.
If there is one piece of city infrastructure that performs extensive multitasking, it is the roads. They serve as the most significant public spaces in a city, playing a key role in economic performance and enabling crucial connectivity. Ease of movement, business convenience, access to recreational opportunities, and vibrant social interactions are all facilitated by roads. The better their overall quality, design, and adequacy, the higher the city’s liveability quotient. Ultimately, roads substantially determine a city’s quality of life.
The primary functions of city roads are to provide mobility and accessibility for people and vehicles, facilitate access to a wide variety of services, and ensure connectivity within the city and beyond. Services include emergency response by the police, fire brigade, and ambulances. Equally important is the role of roads in transporting goods to industries, markets, and consumers, as well as facilitating trade and commerce. Beyond their transportation and economic roles, roads also make a social contribution: They enable social interaction and cultural exchange. City roads are not just movement corridors; they also support eight critical networked infrastructures—drainage, water, power, sewer, street lighting, optical fibre, piped gas, and traffic surveillance.
City roads are not just movement corridors; they also support eight critical networked infrastructures—drainage, water, power, sewer, street lighting, optical fibre, piped gas, and traffic surveillance.
In India, city roads perform additional statutory and cultural functions. Urban roads are also required by law to provide space for street vendors. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, passed by Parliament in 2014, legalised the activity of street vending, hitherto considered an encroachment. It mandates city authorities to demarcate vending zones based on their holding capacity. The Act defines vending as taking place in a “street, lane, sidewalk, footpath, pavement, public park or any public place or private area.” Regulations allow vendors to operate in their designated places but prohibit business in areas marked as ‘no-vending zone’. A maximum of 2.5 percent of the city’s population can be accommodated in vending zones, depending on holding capacity.
Moreover, many social and religious festivals in different parts of the country occupy road spaces for murtis, pandals, decorations, processions, celebrations, and exclusive pathways for visiting devotees and crowds. Festivals such as Diwali, Dussehra, Dahi Handi, Eid, Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Holi, Onam, Rath Yatra, and others attract large crowds. They temporarily adversely impact traffic movement, resulting in road closures, diversions, and other mobility regulations by the city traffic police.
Additionally, India’s vibrant democracy means streets frequently host speeches by political leaders, gatherings, processions, and demonstrations.. While instances of indiscipline occur and could be largely avoided, these events are intrinsic to Indian communities and cannot be wished away as aberrations. They are part of India’s vibrant culture.
Furthermore, with the constant influx of a larger number of cars in cities, on-street parking has become a rising phenomenon. Automobiles, thereby, eat into more and more of the road space for parking that otherwise was available for moving buses, trucks, cars and two-wheelers. This reduces road space for buses, trucks, cars, and two-wheelers and contributes to traffic congestion.
Despite their centrality, urban roads are widely considered unsatisfactory by citizens. Some describe city roads as treacherously unwelcoming to many users, with broken and uneven footpaths and unsafe pedestrian crossings. One had to walk along open drains, live electric wires, dark alleys, and roads riddled with potholes. These factors made city roads inhibit the happy use of roads by citizens. There was generally an absence of appropriate road design, maintenance standards, and the seamless integration of underground utilities. The general impression was that municipal engineers and contractors had huge capacity deficits, and there was frequent road digging and cutting due to a lack of proper coordination between municipal and state departments. Many citizens attribute these issues to malfeasance, lack of civic discipline, and the common flouting of traffic rules by part of the citizenry. These problems are pervasive across most Indian metros.
Unfortunately, land-use plans for roads in Indian cities often fail to account for the realities of Indian society and the laws that impact roads.
Unfortunately, land-use plans for roads in Indian cities often fail to account for the realities of Indian society and the laws that impact roads. While there is considerable debate and dissatisfaction about the quality of road construction and the alleged malfeasance in allocating tenders, there are other equally significant factors that make the city roads in India as messy as they are. This article focuses on two such aspects – statutory mandate and socio-political factors that are peculiar to India, which demand road space. These do not get factored in when road standards are set for Indian city roads.
For transport and communications as a whole, the URDPFI (Urban Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation) guidelines suggest 10 to 12 percent of land in small towns, 12 to 14 percent in medium towns, 14 to 16 percent in large cities, and 15 to 18 percent in metro cities.
These figures apply to urban centres in plain areas, where most of India’s metropolises are located. Narrowing down to roads as one major element of transport and communications, the Guidelines classify roads into—arterial roads (roads for intra-urban traffic), sub-arterial roads (roads for intra-urban through traffic), collector roads (roads for collecting and distributing traffic from and to local streets), and local streets (streets for access to residences, businesses with parking, and pedestrian access). However, these are for proposed average demographic densities calculated in persons per hectare (pph). The Guidelines suggest 75 to 125 pph for small towns, 100 to 150 for medium towns and large cities, and 125 to 175 for metro cities. This can also be expressed as 7,500 to 12,500 persons per km² (ppk) for small towns, 10,000 to 15,000 ppk for medium towns and large cities, and 12,500 to 17,500 ppk for metro cities.
In comparison to cities in the United States (US) and Europe, land allocated to roads in India is low. According to the United Nations (UN)-Habitat—the UN’s city agency—the percentage of land in developing countries varies from 6 to 12 percent, whereas in developed countries it averages 29 percent. Roads in the metropolitan areas of the US account for approximately a fifth to a quarter of urbanised land, and in some cases, roads amount to 30 percent of city space. Similarly, land allocated to roads in European cities is substantial, though a little more conservative than in the US.
In comparison to cities in the United States (US) and Europe, land allocated to roads in India is low. According to the United Nations (UN)-Habitat—the UN’s city agency—the percentage of land in developing countries varies from 6 to 12 percent, whereas in developed countries it averages 29 percent.
Indian cities face a grave disadvantage: their roads serve more functions than elsewhere, yet they begin with planning standards that do not provide sufficient land. The situation is made worse by two additional factors. Most cities do not even meet the prescribed road standards that are already in deficit. Additionally, demographic densities of many cities exceed the URDPFI guidelines, necessitating more space allocation for roads. While street design, construction quality, greater coordination, and better maintenance are all important factors that need to show improvement, it is even more vital that statutory, high-density, social, and cultural factors are not ignored. Addressing these realities requires the revision of land use standards, targeting around 30 percent allocation for roads in Indian cities to achieve reasonable order.
Ramanath Jha is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Dr. Ramanath Jha is Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. He works on urbanisation — urban sustainability, urban governance and urban planning. Dr. Jha belongs ...
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