{"id":733,"date":"2014-07-26T09:10:43","date_gmt":"2014-07-26T03:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorji.net\/?p=733"},"modified":"2014-07-26T09:10:43","modified_gmt":"2014-07-26T03:10:43","slug":"expressway-downgraded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/?p=733","title":{"rendered":"EXPRESSWAY DOWNGRADED"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Safety first, <\/em>with speed bumps for drivers and zebra crossings for pedestrians<\/em><\/p>\n

Kuensel – 1 July 2014 Expressway:<\/strong> <\/span>The Thimphu-Babesa expressway will no longer be called by that name.<\/p>\n

It will be a part of the city\u2019s urban road network and not a highway anymore.<\/p>\n

With the wire mesh along the expressway removed, road safety and transport authority (RSTA) officials said pedestrians could cross the expressway but through the markings.<\/p>\n

RSTA have also issued a notification in this regard.\u00a0 However, the markings are yet to be done.<\/p>\n

RSTA\u2019s director general said the thromde would start marking the locations for zebra crossing, and come up with speed breakers along the 6.2km expressway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe traffic police will guide pedestrians and monitor it,\u201d he said. \u201cRSTA\u2019s responsibility is to create awareness and monitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thimphu thrompon Kinlay Dorjee said the cabinet accepted the proposal last week, and they will implement the decision soon.<\/p>\n

The thrompon said RSTA should have consulted thromde before giving the notification in the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe marking of zebra crossings and speed breakers should have been done first before notifying people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we have to try to finish the work within two to three weeks,\u201d the thrompon said. \u201cWe have to do it ourselves or award it to a contractor, who is already working with us, as it will take a month to float tenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thromde officials said speed breakers and zebra crossings along the highway would be spread out over about 10 locations.\u00a0 The speed breakers will be raised by four inches and signboards put in place.<\/p>\n

The expenditure is estimated to be around 2M.<\/p>\n

The welded mesh along the expressway road divider that did not do any good to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road was removed last month before the Indian prime minister\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Without the wire mesh now, pedestrians have been crossing freely causing inconvenience to drivers, especially at night.<\/p>\n

A civil servant, Kuenzang Dorji, who lives in Semtokha, said he has to be extra attentive along the expressway with the wire mesh gone now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, when the welded mesh was in place, there were at least some points from where people crossed and we knew where to slow down,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now, people cross from all over the place and it\u2019s difficult, especially during the night and when it rains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some residents said that, although it was called a highway, it was done so, without considering any provisions of a highway.<\/p>\n

\u201cProblems were bound to occur,\u201d a resident said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething needs to be done along that stretch of road before the summer break for students end because it\u2019s mostly students who walk along that road,\u201d a corporate employee, Tshering Yangden, said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Thimphu thromde, traffic police and RSTA officials will go for a site visit today to decide where zebra crossings and speed breakers will come up along the expressway.<\/p>\n

By Sonam Choden<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Safety first, with speed bumps for drivers and zebra crossings for pedestrians Kuensel – 1 July 2014 Expressway: The Thimphu-Babesa expressway will no longer be called by that name. It will be a part of the city\u2019s urban road network … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-misc","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorji.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}