The Gloomy Fitness Mobility Situation in Dehradun City

Besides the proliferation of large gyms across the hilly city, it is important to explore other fitness and mobility options available to the citizens of Dehradun. Do the residents of this city lack motivation or are they simply too busy to prioritize an active lifestyle? Let us not rely on outdated data from decades ago, as Swedish physician and bestselling author of the book "Factfulness" advises.

In the past, it was true that the average citizen of Dehradun used to walk a considerable number of steps daily. However, over the past four years, the situation has changed significantly, contrary to popular belief.

In 2019-20, students from DIT University's Civil Engineering Department, under my supervision, conducted an assessment of active mobility in Dehradun during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. We collected data from over 500 residents using Google Forms as part of our design project. Our findings revealed some interesting insights. When asked about their preferred fitness activities, a staggering 57.5% of respondents chose walking, while 3.7% preferred cycling before the lockdown. During the lockdown, many individuals felt the lack of physical activity in their lives, and even those who previously didn't walk or cycle resolved to become more active once the restrictions were lifted. After the lockdown, 21% of people planned to walk 2-4 kilometers daily, and 23.2% planned to walk at least 1-2 kilometers every day. The total percentage of respondents who wanted to walk as soon as the lockdown ended was 100%, which was truly inspiring. Only 22% of people had a smaller target of up to 500 meters per day. International research on walkability suggests that people's willingness to walk declines after 800 meters on average. However, Dehradun residents displayed audacious determination, setting distance-based targets and expressing excitement about starting their walking routines. Even those with smaller walking goals had other activities like yoga and swimming on their fitness agenda. Additionally, 11.4% of respondents chose cycling as their preferred mode of fitness after the lockdown.

Obstructions in the Pedestrian footpath breaking the continuity

To understand the implementation challenges faced by individuals trying to achieve their fitness goals, my research team assessed the existing infrastructure, focusing on pedestrian footpaths. We conducted an inventory survey of various arterial and collector streets throughout the city. Although we found some well-defined pedestrian footpaths in selective areas, they were poorly maintained and often obstructed by encroachments or utility installations, failing to provide seamless connectivity for pedestrians. Furthermore, the city lacked dedicated cycle tracks, which we discussed with the officials from Dehradun Smart City. They informed us that due to the hilly terrain and narrow residential roads, traditional planning did not include bicycle lanes. However, they expressed a possibility of incorporating bicycle lanes in certain corridors in the future. Determined to address these issues, we conducted extensive inventory surveys and designed urban street redesign scenarios for two well-known and busy arterial corridors: Survey Chowk to Nany's Bakery and Astley Hall to Clock Tower.

Roadway Dimension Inventory Data Collection

Our resident survey revealed that 74% of respondents felt unsafe as pedestrians on the city's roads, and 68% felt unsafe cycling. The non-motorized transport (NMT) infrastructure in Dehradun requires significant improvement. Only 26% of the surveyed roads had footpaths on both sides, while 8% had footpaths on one side. A staggering 66% of the surveyed roads lacked footpaths altogether. Furthermore, until 2019, the traffic signals did not accommodate pedestrian phases, which posed an additional safety concern. Even bicyclists had been largely overlooked by the MDDA until 2019. The two corridors selected for urban street redesign faced distinct challenges. The Survey Chowk to Nany's Bakery corridor had a fragmented footpath infrastructure, with several breaks and obstacles, including stretches consumed by encroachments or disappearing due to exceeding boundaries set by homeowners and commercial establishments. Many commercial establishments had encroached upon footpath areas to create on-street parking spaces for their customers. On the other hand, the Astley Hall area suffered from maintenance issues with its existing pedestrian track, despite being one of the prominent commercial hubs of the city.

The Comprehensive Mobility Plan of Dehradun, which extensively studied traffic management, also highlighted these issues in its report submitted to the government by UMTC in May 2019. The findings from our inventory study, along with the CMP document, emphasize the urgent need for active mobility corridors and the importance of designing and maintaining such corridors consistently.

Returning to the citizens, who are the key stakeholders in any city's development, our research team conducted a follow-up survey in 2022 to understand the impact of COVID-19 isolation and behavioral changes among the respondents. Shockingly, only 43% of the respondents reported walking daily, compared to 57.5% before the lockdown. The percentage of people cycling also dropped to 2.1%. We expected the respondents to show increased activity levels as part of the revenge tourism trend, with at least 80% of them achieving their fitness goals.

To delve deeper into the findings, we decided to conduct telephonic data collection since the lockdown had ended and attention spans for survey-based questionnaires were limited. We successfully reached 423 out of 500 respondents and conducted oral surveys, digitally recording their responses. As this was a qualitative assessment with open-ended questions, the range of answers varied. To quantify the responses, we classified them into categories. An overwhelming 76.4% expressed concerns about the rise in traffic and reckless driving, which made them feel unsafe while walking in the city. Around 56% believed they were at significant risk of injury due to broken footpaths, discontinuous stretches, or situations where pedestrians and vehicles shared road space without dedicated footpaths. Additionally, 73% expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of infrastructure for pedestrians in their neighborhoods. Bicyclists expressed similar concerns about safety and were disappointed by the absence of dedicated bicycle lanes. They looked to cities like Chandigarh and Pune as potential models for Dehradun.

The citizens of Dehradun urgently need a robust active mobility infrastructure to meet their daily transportation needs. Providing essential pedestrian and cycling infrastructure will not only increase the share of non-motorized modes in the city but also have positive ecological, health, and community impacts. Recently, the Punjab government recognized the "right to walk" as a fundamental right and directed all Public Works Departments and Municipal Corporations to include pedestrian walkways in all new projects. They have also set a timeline to upgrade old corridors, following a long-awaited decision by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on a PIL filed in 2010.

As the capital city of Uttarakhand and home to highly educated citizens, Dehradun doesn't need to go through a similar legal process or wait for justice to address its daily mobility needs. Instead, we can draw inspiration from global case studies in cities like Copenhagen, Netherlands, Amsterdam, as well as Indian cities like Chandigarh and Pune. By understanding the impact of providing appropriate infrastructure for non-motorized modes of travel, we can enhance the fitness of our residents and create a safe environment. We cannot expect our citizens to share road space with vehicles or continue using dilapidated infrastructure.

Furthermore, with the current proactive government focusing on mega connectivity projects for inter-city movement, I hope they will also prioritize intra-city movement, especially by investing in active mobility projects.

Acknowledgment: I extend my gratitude to my students, Er. Ayush Singh, Er. Subhash Chowdhary, Er. Gaurav Semwal, Er. Kartik Gulati, and Er. Vivek Agarwal, for their invaluable assistance in collecting data for this research. Even after completing their degrees, they willingly helped me with phase 2 of this project upon my request. All of them are 2021 batch B.Tech graduates from the Civil Engineering Department at DIT University.