The Velachery Bypass Road, developed in 2005 mainly to ease congestion on Velachery Main Road, is today a picture of chaos. The service road on either side has been eaten up due to encroachments by hawkers and commercial establishments. Unauthorised parking too contributes to the problem.
The present state of the road contrasts sharply with how it was visualised. The bypass road cutting through several cross streets and the Velachery lake was planned as a model road with several features, including a four-lane carriageway, concrete barricaded service roads on both sides to link the cross streets and a well-developed footpath for pedestrians. The 1.98-km stretch was developed at a cost of Rs. 4.80 crore by the State Highways Department.
S. Sridhar, a resident of a multi-storeyed apartment on bypass road, said that over the years, with the growth of commercial establishments, the road margins, normally meant for pedestrians, have been encroached upon.
“Space is used up for parking too, forcing pedestrians to walk on the carriageway. Motorists hardly care for the safety of pedestrians. Removal of encroachments is not done regularly, leading to this chaos,” he said.
While one side of the road has an open canal constructed to carry rainwater from the Velachery lake to the Pallikaranai marsh and, therefore, no footpath, the other side of the road has a footpath, but only on small stretches of the road, especially near Janakpuri Street and Rajalakshmi Nagar.
Encroachments
S. Kumararaja, a residents’ welfare activist, said the purpose for which the bypass road was created has been defeated. For, traffic congestion reigns supreme, thanks to burgeoning commercial activity. The open canal has been closed with platforms, which are taken over by shops, restaurants and commercial establishments.
Similarly, the other side of the road, which has a footpath on some stretches, does not help pedestrians in any way, as even these stretches of pavement are rendered unusable due to parking of vehicles and hawkers, he added.
Sources in the Highways Department, which maintains the road, said they did remove encroachments, but the hawkers kept coming back.
“Service lanes were removed and added to the main carriageway. There are portions without footpaths… we have plans for forming footpaths this year,” said a source admitting that haphazard parking of vehicles was a major problem but it was up to the Greater Chennai Corporation to provide a multi-level parking lot in the locality.
(Additional reporting by Deepa H. Ramakrishnan)
