Delhi Identifies 5 Roads for Green, Dust-Free & Pedestrian-Friendly Makeover — LG Sandhu Reviews SPA-Designed Model Corridors

Delhi’s road dust problem is getting two simultaneous solutions in the same week — one operational, one architectural. While the PWD and MCD roll out their mechanical sweepers and sprinklers, LG Taranjit Singh Sandhu is taking a different approach: redesigning five major road corridors from the ground up so that dust, flooding and pedestrian exclusion are designed OUT rather than cleaned up after the fact. Here is the complete story.

What Has Been Reviewed

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Tuesday reviewed the progress of the proposed redevelopment of five key road corridors in the national capital, with work on the stretches expected to begin soon. Chairing a meeting to assess coordination between the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) and the respective road-owning agencies, the Lieutenant Governor emphasised that the transformation being undertaken should aim at making these extremely traffic-heavy stretches totally free of road dust and resultant ambient air pollution, as was being outlined by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).

Three organisations were in the room for this review:

This triangular structure — political leadership, academic design, and operational agencies — is itself notable. It signals that Delhi is attempting to solve its road dust problem not through administrative orders alone but through scientifically designed infrastructure.

The Four Design Pillars — What the Corridors Will Look Like

The LG’s review focused on four specific design features that together constitute a comprehensive, dust-at-source elimination approach:

Pillar 1 — Foolproof Stormwater Drainage

Key features of the corridor redevelopment plan include a stormwater drainage system aimed at preventing flooding and ensuring that silt is not left behind after rain. Foolproof stormwater drainage ensures that no flooding takes place, which in turn will lead to silt not being left behind. Ultimately, with flooding getting controlled, while commuting and traffic will be smoother during rains, the absence of silt would ensure that there is no dust pollution.

This is the design insight that drives the entire approach. Delhi’s road dust problem is not just a dry-weather phenomenon — it has a monsoon origin story too:

1. Heavy rain floods road verges and central medians
2. Floodwater deposits thick layers of silt on road surfaces
3. Once the water evaporates, silt dries and becomes fine PM2.5 and PM10 dust
4. Subsequent traffic and wind re-suspend this silt into the air

A foolproof stormwater drainage system breaks this cycle at Step 1. No flooding → no silt deposit → no post-monsoon dust surge. The corridors are being designed with properly graded drainage channels, perforated pipes and absorption surfaces to channel rainwater away from road surfaces entirely.

Pillar 2 — Scientific Green Central Verge

The development of a Scientific Green Central Verge, with grass carpeting and a piped watering facility, will terminate silt spilling out when tankers are used for watering. This, apart from achieving dust control, will also result in ending traffic congestion caused by the movement of slow-moving watering tankers.

This is one of Delhi’s infrastructure ironies: the water tankers that drive slowly up and down central verges to water median plants are themselves a cause of traffic congestion — and when their water overflows onto the road, it deposits silt that later turns to dust.

The Scientific Green Central Verge solution:

• Grass carpeting instead of bare soil — grass roots bind soil, preventing silt dispersal
• Piped underground watering system — delivers water directly to plant roots, eliminating surface overflow
• No tankers needed on roads — removing slow-moving tankers from traffic lanes permanently

The result: greener medians, less traffic congestion and less dust. Three problems solved by one design change.

Pillar 3 — Integrated Pedestrian Pathways and Cycle Tracks

The development of integrated pedestrian pathways with a cycle track, interspersed with public utilities and resting shelters.

Delhi’s footpaths are notoriously inaccessible — broken surfaces, encroachments, parked vehicles and absent stretches make walking dangerous and uncomfortable across most of the city’s roads. The five model corridors will feature:

• Continuous pedestrian pathways — unbroken walking surfaces along the entire corridor length
• Dedicated cycle tracks — separated from motorised traffic
• Public utilities — drinking water stations, toilet facilities at intervals
• Resting shelters — covered rest points for pedestrians, cyclists and commuters

This transforms these corridors from vehicle-first spaces into genuinely multimodal public infrastructure — accessible to walkers, cyclists and differently-abled persons alongside motorists.

Pillar 4 — CAQM Guideline Compliance

Sandhu stressed that the project must follow guidelines set by the Commission for Air Quality Management. The approach focuses on preventing dust at the design stage.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is the statutory body — established by the Union government — that regulates air quality across Delhi and NCR. CAQM has developed specific technical guidelines for road dust mitigation, covering road surface material, shoulder paving, drainage design and vegetation.

The LG’s directive to ensure CAQM compliance is built into the design itself — not applied as a post-construction checklist — means that these five corridors will be the first Delhi roads designed from the ground up to meet CAQM’s dust mitigation standards.

The Citizen Ownership Vision — What the LG Said

LG Sandhu stressed that the exercise should succeed in bringing the people of the city close to these stretches of roads to instil ownership of these public assets in them. This will ensure safety, security, as well as proper maintenance, apart from providing much-needed open recreational spaces.

This is a significant statement of intent. Delhi’s previous infrastructure makeovers have often produced beautiful roads that degrade quickly because residents treat them as government property rather than shared public space. LG Sandhu is explicitly linking the physical design of the corridors — the resting shelters, the cycle tracks, the pedestrian pathways — to a behavioural outcome: citizens who use these spaces regularly will maintain and protect them.

The vision: five road corridors that function simultaneously as:

• Traffic arteries
• Dust-free, low-pollution zones
• Pedestrian and cycling routes
• Open recreational spaces
• Community-maintained public assets

How This Differs from the PWD/MCD Drive

It is important to understand what this LG initiative is — and what it is not — relative to the broader Delhi road makeover underway simultaneously:

The LG’s five-corridor plan is the most design-intensive and long-term of these four parallel efforts — it will take longer to implement but, if executed as planned, will produce permanently dust-free stretches rather than corridors that need perpetual cleaning.

What Is the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA)?

The School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Delhi is one of India’s most prestigious national institutions for urban planning, architecture and environmental design — on par with the IITs for its specialist disciplines. Located in New Delhi, SPA is a national institute under the Union Ministry of Education.

SPA’s involvement in the corridor design brings:

• Academic rigour in urban design and environmental planning
• Research-backed approach to dust mitigation through physical design
• Expertise in pedestrian and cycle infrastructure
• Alignment with international best practices in sustainable urban mobility

The use of SPA — rather than a private consultancy — also signals that this project is intended as a replicable model for Delhi’s broader road network, not just a one-off beautification project.