400 city roads to get better footpaths soon

The Chennai Corporation proposes to improve pedestrian facilities on 400 roads over a period of four years.

Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy, at a seminar on Friday, said the civic body would seek government approval to improve bus route roads.

The Chennai Corporation, in association with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), organised the seminar for engineers of the civic body.

Teams of engineers were taken to important road junctions such as Pantheon Road-Adithanar Road junction and Gandhi Irwin Road near Egmore railway station, as part of the seminar.

Proposals for improving pedestrian facilities at these junctions were made at the brainstorming sessions held later. The civic body is likely to take decisions on implementing some of the best proposals.

ITDP works with cities worldwide to bring about sustainable transport solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce poverty and improve the quality of urban life.

Work orders on one package of the project — to improve footpaths along 48 km of 71 roads — have already been issued. The footpaths will be designed with granite kerbs and slabs.

Work on the footpaths is expected to be completed in four months. These facilities will be restricted to the eight zones of Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, Alandur and Adyar.

The Chennai Corporation is likely to finalise the remaining tenders for packages of tender for the project by March.

Most of the new granite footpaths will be two metres wide. Some of the major roads that will get better footpaths include Valluvarkottam High Road, Luz Church Road, Sterling Road, Sterling Avenue, Tank Bund Road, Mahalingapuram Main Road, Greams Road, Binny Road, North Usman Road and Theagaraya Road.