Pedestrian Coalition Calls for Renovation of Overpasses from UI to Pasar Minggu
The Pedestrian Coalition has urged the government to renovate pedestrian bridges (JPO) from Universitas Indonesia (UI) Station to Pasar Minggu, which it considers to be in need of improvement.
“The JPOs in the Mampang, Rasuna Said and Tebet areas, yes. Tebet, Pancoran, up to Pasar Minggu and the JPO at UI,” said Pedestrian Coalition chairman Alfred Sitorus when contacted in Jakarta on Thursday.
He identified several locations requiring attention, including Mampang, HR Rasuna Said, Tebet, Pancoran and Pasar Minggu.
Alfred also highlighted the condition of footbridges in the Cakung area, which he said made life difficult for residents because they were not complemented by at-grade crossing facilities.
As a result, he said, some residents chose to cross directly on the carriageway because the footbridges were considered difficult to access, particularly for vulnerable groups.
Moreover, Alfred argued that the provision of safe, inclusive and easily accessible crossing facilities is an important indicator in realising Jakarta’s vision and mission as a global city.
“DKI Jakarta talks quite a lot about being a global city. So what we see is that global cities have already started talking about inclusiveness and also being a walkable city,” Alfred said.
He therefore asked the government not only to focus on building new infrastructure, but also to evaluate existing facilities to determine whether they are actually being used by the public and whether they meet the needs of pedestrians.
Furthermore, he said the construction of footbridges should be based on needs assessments, such as traffic volume and road width, rather than being treated as the primary solution on every road segment.
He added that if footbridges are still to be built, they must meet accessibility requirements, either through fully operational lifts or ramps, so that they can be used by all segments of society.
There are currently 230 footbridges under the supervision of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Highways Department.