Newlinkroad's Blog

As an active member of Walking Project I have been following up with Rishi Agarwal and team, and thanks to them the BMC has now finally decided to take steps to improve the quality of footpaths in Mumbai.

The BMC has issued a tender in November 2025 exceeding Rs 100 crore to revamp footpaths and enhance pedestrian infrastructure across the city. The project, spanning 14 roads and 16.55 km in the island city as well as the western and eastern suburbs, will include civil upgrades, thermoplastic road markings, new traffic signages, and repairs to kerbstones and dividers, among other improvements.

“We will be engaging urban planners, who will provide design and cross sections of the footpaths, which will adhere to the IRC code. We have selected a few roads for the remodeling of the footpaths and hope to create model footpaths on select roads across the city.

Thereafter, suppose there are any shortcomings or suggestions for improvements in the facilities or the design. In that case, we will modify the same and replicate the same on footpaths across the city,” a civic official said.

Earlier this year, the BMC budget speech of the commissioner stated that the walkability of footpaths in the city is a topic of growing importance as the city is continuously improving its infrastructure. Walkability of the city involves the condition of the footpath, the width of the footpath, safety concerns, accessibility, routine maintenance, etc. It also stated that BMC is focusing on creating more liveable, pedestrian-friendly, and differently-abled-friendly footpaths. For that, the ‘Universal Footpath Policy’ has already been formulated and proposed to be implemented.

“Accordingly, a fund of Rs 100 crore was allocated by the civic body this year,” said a civic official.

The civic body earlier sought to carry out audits of footpaths to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities, based on guidelines issued by Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.

According to the ‘Pedestrian First’ footpath policy, the maximum height of a footpath (including kerb, walking surface, top-of-paving) shall not exceed 150 mm from the road level.

The roads taken up for footpath remodeling include the Juhu Tara Road, Veera Desai road, Military Road, SV Road, Borivli West, and Chandavarkar Road in the western suburbs. In the eastern suburbs, the roads include Saki Vihar road, Road no. 1, Purushottam Kheraj Marg, Mahatma Gandhi road and Bal Rajeshwar Marg. In the city, the roads include Shahid Bhagat Singh, DN Road, Senapati Bapat Marg, and Balasaheb Ambedkar road.