The Highways Department is waiting for concurrence from the Southern Railway to construct a skywalk over Poonamallee High Road.
The skywalk, which will cover a distance of around 600 metres, will connect eight locations on either side of the arterial road.
The present design proposes to connect Chennai Central station, the Moore Market complex, Pallavan Salai, Wall Tax Road, Government General Hospital, Evening Bazaar and Fort station. If pedestrians were to climb up at, for instance, Chennai Central Station, they can get off at any of these points.
Highways Department sources said they had already written to the Railways but they were yet to receive any communication with regard to the matter. “We need their concurrence as we would be constructing inside their premises and we will be using their space for landing the facilities. We will be writing to them again now. The project has been waiting for nearly a year now,” the source said.
Once the concurrence is obtained from the Railways, the department plans to write to the PWD as the Government General Hospital is being maintained by it.
The facility would have escalators and staircases for pedestrians to use. At two spots, in the hospital, elevators would be provided. The construction of the Rs. 30-crore facility would take a year, sources said.
The proposal has been slightly modified as earlier 11 spots were to be connected and the skywalk was to run a distance of nearly a kilometre. However, it has been modified due to Chennai Metrorail’s alignment. The previous proposal was to have connected Rippon Buildings and Park Station, too.
T. Ravikumar, president, All India Rail and Bus Passengers’ Welfare Association, said that on completion, the skywalk would be very useful to passengers.
“In Kolkata, at Howrah, you can go to the next street though a long subway. We need not cross the road or anything. Here, from Central, pedestrians have to first cross the road meant for MTC buses and get down into the subway to reach the place. MTC drivers drive very rashly inside the station. Patients and their relatives would find it very useful,” he said.
He also suggested that other spots including the Valluvar Kottam area and Udhayam Theatre junction at Ashok Nagar be considered for such a facility.
