Mumbai: Remove bicycle tracks to tackle traffic at BKC, says minister

He suggested the cycle lane be merged with the road. A separate cycle track can be built on any adjoining plot in BKC.

State Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha has expressed concern about the traffic congestion in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) area and suggested the removal of bicycle lanes and minimising space occupied by barriers erected for Metro work.

Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray, however, disagreed and called for a study on emerging traffic patterns as new offices are coming up. Bicycle lanes in BKC, a business district in the suburbs, were sanctioned in 2011.

In a letter to MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee on Monday, Lodha, the Mumbai suburbs guardian minister, said traffic congestion was increasingly becoming unbearable in the area, and the road space has been reduced further because of the barricades of Metro works.

He suggested the cycle lane be merged with the road. A separate cycle track can be built on any adjoining plot in BKC. The barriers erected for Metro work should be reduced to the minimum to create more space for pedestrians and motorists, he wrote, urging the development authority to plan special buses from Bandra station to BKC.

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