Skywalks to be set up in Twin City by Government of Odisha

With the increasing vehicular traffic in the Twin City (Bhubaneswar and Cuttack); the pedestrians are facing a lot of problems in crossing the roads in the congested areas. Many accidents are also happening in the busy areas due to the road crossing. So for the convenience of the pedestrians Government of Odisha decided to build Skywalks on the busy areas of the city. The first Skywalk is going to be set up in Jaydev Vihar. The whole idea of building Skywalks in the Twin City came from from the Mumbai Skywalks.

The main purpose of the Skywalk is efficiently moving the pedestrians from the busy congested areas to other locations. The Skywalk will be connected to the Bus Stations, Taxi Stands and shopping malls through a dedicated walkway. Where the Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) are only meant for crossing the roads while a Skywalk will extend a little bit and to more than one direction.

The state housing and urban development (H&UD) department is looking for an executing agency for the Skywalks project. The project cost of the Skywalk which is to be build in Jaydev Vihar is around 10 Crore. The Whole investment will be done by JNNURM funds for the development of the infrastructure of the city. A similar Skywalk is also to be set up near Link Road in Cuttack. In the second phase, we have planned to construct skywalks at Kalpana Square and Raj Mahal Square in Bhubaneswar, H&UD special secretary S K Ratho said.

The Whole Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) project is now replaced by the Skywalks even if the Foundation stone of the Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) at Javdev Vihar han been laid on 31 August 2013. The government is now planning to construct the Skywalks on every Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) site.

As the Skywalks will not only help the pedestrians to cross the road but also lead them to different locations, this will be best the common people. Most of the Urban Planners welcomed the skywalk concept, but they had a doubt whether it can serve the purpose at Jaydev Vihar.

Skywalks are suppose to be present near Metro Stations likewise in Mumbai, so some people feel that the skywalks needs to be set up at Master Canteen and Kalpana Square. The demand of the people is that the projects should be completed as soon as possible not like the Foot Over-Bridges (FOB) which was announced in 2011 but the construction is yet to start.