The foot overbridge on Peters Road, outside New College and Adarsh Vidyalaya School, will soon be kept out of bounds for the public at night. Pedestrians are not expected to protest. In fact, they are likely to welcome the move as it promises to keep tipplers away from the facility.
The Chennai Corporation has completed work on fitting iron gates at both sides of the bridge. The gates will be kept locked at night. It has also constructed an asbestos roof over the FOB, giving the structure an all-new look with a fresh coat of paint and carried out other minor repair works. The bridge was opened in 2001.
The FOB is centrally located and is meant to serve a couple of educational institutions and a raft of commercial establishments and apartment complexes found in the vicinity. “This facility is however rarely used by the public. Although the road receives heavy traffic, the stretch is narrow that people prefer walking across the road to taking the FOB,” says Gulam Mohammed, an employee of New College.
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Residents in the locality agree. They say winebibbers are the ones who most use the facility. They spend the night there drinking and leave empty bottles behind.
For close to a month, the bridge has been kept locked to facilitate the modification work.
A junior engineer from the Division said the Corporation had spent Rs. 9 lakh to undertake the works.
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“A little more work is pending. On its completion, the bridge will be closed after 8 p.m. and opened at 7 a.m.,” said the official.
The Corporation has a plan to ensure greater patronage for the FOB. “As the median is at a very low height, crossing the road poses little challenge. If we increase the median’s height, it’ll act as a deterrent to pedestrians. However, we can carry this out only after a consultation with the bus route road department,” said another Corporation official.