"No sidewalks", urban roads can not leave people without a way to go

Mr. Liu, a citizen of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, wrote to reflect that there was no plan to build a sidewalk on the east side of Yanshu Road in Fengdong New Town, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. This road has a large traffic flow, and the traffic jam is serious during peak hours, because there is no sidewalk, pedestrians can only pass by the traffic flow, which is very dangerous. It is hoped that the relevant departments will build sidewalks as soon as possible to ensure the safe travel of the masses. (People's Daily Readers' Edition, October 18)

Through the photos taken by the reader, we can see that on a busy road, there is no "sidewalk" except for the setting up of motorized lanes and slow lanes. Once in this place, pedestrians can only pass through the motorized lanes or slow lanes, and danger is everywhere.

It would be understandable if such a scene appeared in the "old town" of some cities, but in fact "the road without sidewalks" appeared in the "new town". "New city" as the name suggests, that is, the newly built urban area, the newly built urban area is newly planned, all newly designed, a newly planned place, why is there no "sidewalk"?

In fact, it is not unusual to have "pedestrian-friendly roads" like Xi'an. There are two aspects to this situation: one is that the sidewalk is crowded, the space is very small, some places even need to "lean on the side to pass", and some sidewalks are covered with telephone poles; on the other hand, some roads are not set up with sidewalks, and pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles share a road.

What we can understand is that cities are places where land is scarce and space is precious. However, what is incomprehensible is that even if the city is short of land, there should be no "no sidewalk" phenomenon, nor should pedestrians be left without a way.

We have been building a "friendly city", the "friendly city" mentioned here should be friendly to all groups, this friendship is to let all groups feel the temperature of the city, the warmth of the city. Don't know how the temperature and warmth of the "road without sidewalks" are reflected?

When some cities are renovating roads, when transforming cities, they will fully consider the reality of "increasing car ownership" and widen motor vehicle lanes. It should be said that this transformation is the right and the real need, and we must meet the growing "car travel demand". However, when some places are renovating roads, they crowd out non-motorized roads in order to expand motorized roads, thereby crowding out sidewalks. The sidewalk will become more and more narrow, or even simply "no sidewalk", which will bring safety hazards to the travel of the masses.

At present, we are advocating green travel and environmentally friendly travel. A basis for realizing green travel and environmentally friendly travel is to build more and better sidewalks, so that people can "slow life" comfortably, and unfortunately, some places do not attach importance to the construction of sidewalks, and even infringe on the "right to walk" of ordinary citizens, which will only make green travel more and more distant.

Sidewalk construction must be placed in an important position to create more scenic, safe and worry-free, relaxed sidewalks. "No sidewalks", the people's city can not let people walk without a way! Sister cities can't help but be friendly. (Guo Yuanpeng)