MOVEMENT WEB

Unplanned cities are always plagued by traffic congestion, parking shortages and strip development of commercial activities along major arteries. Gelephu has an edge on older towns and cities in that the future growth will largely occur to the west of the existing built-up area. Commercial activities can be tucked into pockets off of the major arteries. Development along the major arteries can be highly restricted from the present on-wards! It is a paramount goal of the structure plan to ensure that generations to come in the emerging urban area can spread their roads and walkways in reserved corridors and channels. The idea is not to build every road and lane today, but to plan and reserve such lands for the future!

A four lane divided highway shall run from the Gateway Zone of Gelephu parallel to the border up to Sarpang. A five hundred meters wide security zone will separate the border from the zone. This corridor shall be the main cargo and passenger movement channel in the future urban region and will disperse movement related to the multi-mode terminus, the Gateway to the Kingdom, the Industrial Estate and traffic entering from Trongsa and from the Sarpang areas. In the future added traffic will be generated from the east and the regional airport! As shall be discussed later, this urban corridor will one day be the backbone of a Special Economic Zone conceptualized to attract investors from Bhutan, India and global MNCs to create high-tech assembly and manufacturing units in the area, and in turn to generate employment for Bhutan's emerging graduates and wealth for the nation. This corridor will reserve a right-of-way wide enough to include an emergency lane on each side, and service roads with limited access to the future expressway at limited points. With the help of the Ministry of Trade and Industry pockets will be selected along its thirty kilometer length for future industrial estates, housing estates and urban villages.

This Concept Plan envisions a Sibsu-Daipham National Highway (SDNH) connecting Sibsu, Samtse, Phuentsholing, Sarpang, Gelephu and Daipham on to the east of Bhutan.

The SDNH will enter the Sarpang-Gelephu region from the west of Sarpang, and then use the proposed Urban Corridor; taking the proposed city bye-pass up to the foothills of the Trongsa Highway and from there branch off to the east of Bhutan. This branch will exit the Gelephu area just after the Mao Chhu Bridge to the north of the present town.

Coming from the north-central region of Bhutan, to the south, from the Trongsa Highway, after crossing the Mao Chhu Bridge, there will be a Gelephu Bye-pass artery carrying both the traffic from Trongsa and from the East of Bhutan on to Sarpang and from there either up to Damphu, Wangdi and Thimphu, or further east to Phuentsholing and beyond. The Gelephu Bye-pass Artery will be a limited access boulevard skirting the feet of the mountains, and demarcating the developed area of the town from the forest reserves, stupa, meditation areas and limited, low density tourist developments on the hill slopes.

Royal Boulevard

The current road coming in from Trongsa to the market will be earmarked as a new Royal Boulevard, linking the Gateway to Bhutan to the north of the country and to the eastern portion of the proposed Sibsu-Daipham National Highway. This will be a divided boulevard with a central planter, and limited access with service parking areas in pockets off of the road. No commercial structures will be allowed to face directly onto the Royal Boulevard. Land uses like hotels, shopping plazas and multiplexes with their own dedicated parking would be envisioned on the western side of the Royal Boulevard. These will gain entry from the parallel service roads, which branch off of the east-west roads in the vehicular web.

Vehicular Web

At present all of the traffic moves along the north-south road connecting the border with Trongsa to the north, and along the Sarpang Road. These two axes will be upgraded, as noted in previous sections, and will be the major structural components from which a more organic web of roads will generate, taking into consideration contours and rivulets. The major roads will be arteries defining the outer boundaries of neighborhoods, or Urban Villages. The web will take the shape of a net of roads allowing drivers to choose alternative routes through the urban system. It will also facilitate bus routes which connect to the higher speed Royal Boulevard, Gelephu Bye-pass and the Sarpang-Gelephu Urban Corridor.

Integrating the Eastern Villages

To the east of the Mao Chhu there are several hundred families settled in villages and hamlets who depend on Gelephu for shopping, education, transport and health care for survival. In the monsoon they are totally cut off from the town. The proposed extension of the Sibsu-Daipham National Highway from the north of the present town will create the first year-round road and public transport connection to this large tract of Bhutanese citizens, who will in due course be further integrated into the urban fabric. A long term plan will be to integrate the essential river training activity with a causeway over the Mao Chhu to these villages from the Sarpang-Gelephu Urban Corridor. At that time several Urban Villages will be conceptualized in this area.

Footpath and Cycle Paths

From the above the image of an Urban Structure begins to emerge, where in a skeleton is created from a structure of vehicular roads, creating settlement pockets within them. Urban villages with Neighborhood Centers will fit within each pocket. The present market area will be one Urban Hub of the town and a new Urban Hub is envisioned to the north-west just beyond the present municipal boundary. All of these hubs and nodes within the web will be connected by green fingers of an urban open space system. Through this system will be foot and cycle paths allowing school children, youth and morning walkers to enjoy a protected and peaceful green movement system. In all of the Urban Hubs and Urban Villages people can walk down to the Village Square and catch an express bus, connecting them with the entire town!