Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20: The city administration has decided to make its roads more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly. The move is aimed at curbing the number of deaths that take place because of frequent accidents on Bhubaneswar roads.

The city witnessed 600 major roads accidents in 2015 in which 175 people died. The number of accidents in 2014 was 516, but the number of deaths was 177, said reports. A survey by a local agency revealed that nearly 60 per cent people in the city were either pedestrians or bicyclists.

"We have planned to construct bicycle tracks leading from Lingaraj temple to the other parts of the city. The existing tracks will be freed from encroachment," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

At a conclave on road safety here, works department secretary Nalini Pradhan said they had started a traffic audit to understand the road-use behaviour pattern of people. "A specific study has been completed between Pitapalli Square and Cuttack, which provides interesting results," said Pradhan.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is going to implement a programme called public bike sharing to promote non-motorised transport in the city. In the proposed programme, the civic body will lend bicycles to the public for a specified time against a fee.

BMC deputy commissioner Srimanta Mishra said: "We have got 100 bicycles and are thinking of a way to implement the bike-sharing programme. It will be implemented shortly." The civic body in collaboration with other stakeholders is also planning to introduce modern traffic lights with pelican signalling system at 64 junctions across the city. Under the smart city scheme, Janpath is also going to have lane-driving option along with state-of-the-art bicycle and pedestrian tracks.

"There are many places in the city where traffic is chaotic and the areas are vulnerable to accidents. If the city administration really wants to ensure the safety of citizens, they should ensure that the roads and junctions are constructed and guarded properly," said Saheed Nagar resident Arpan Mohanty.

Another major component under the smart city scheme would be to make the city streets safe for children. Municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar said: "We worry when our children go out because the streets are not child-friendly. We will focus on to designs to make streets children-friendly," said Kumar.

A Class VI student of Capital High School, Amish Mishra, said: "Some cycle tracks are damaged while others are encroached upon."