PASSAGES WITH ESCALATORS PLANNED NEAR KOLKATA, INDIA

      In an effort to protect pedestrians crossing the six-lane Major Arterial Road at the Rabindra Thirtha crossing at the Kolkata Gate, Bidhannagar, India, traffic department officials plan to build four escalator-equipped underground passages, or subways, beneath the busy thoroughfare, The Telegraph reported June 17. Though there are signal-equipped crossings, many pedestrians going to and from work at nearby IT offices dart across the road, dodging speeding vehicles. The subways, with four entry/exit points, will offer passage in different directions. They will be approximately 7 m below ground and will have up and down escalators at each end. The township already has 10 subways, but only one of them is equipped with escalators, and these are only upward-traveling units. The new subways will be the first with two-way escalators.