The Chennai Corporation is planning to spend ₹7,500 crore for giving a makeover to all bus routes in the city.
If it gets the funding, all 471 bus routes in the city will get world-class infrastructure, officials said.
The design of the roads will incorporate all aspects required for promoting safety of road users, including motorists, commuters of all modes of public transport, pedestrians and local residents. The city has 387 km of bus routes and 5,234 km of interior roads across its 15 zones.
Chennai Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash said the estimate for the project to spruce up bus routes in the city was ₹7,500 crore. “All this is ballpark and will change once properly estimated. We have identified all bus routes for the purpose. In the first phase, we have shortlisted 100 km of roads. The first phase of the project is estimated at ₹1,800 crore,” he said.
Discussions under way
Representatives from mulitlateral funding agencies have been holding discussions with the civic body for funding such projects. “Right now, we are about to finalise documents to select the design consultant for making the roads world class. The number of new parking lots along the roads will be finalised based on a study of traffic congestion along all the roads in the city,” said Mr. Prakash.
“First, we have to fix the design consultation process. It will take at least nine months. We will do a detailed and exhaustive planning of all aspects of road infrastructure in the city,” said Mr. Prakash.
According to the City Development Plan, the area under roads in the city is expected to increase by 11.4% in 20 years. The length of bus routes will increase by 328 km in extended areas such as Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur. At least 16.4 km of new bus routes will be developed in these areas in one year. At least 327 BT roads will be converted to cement concrete roads in 20 years, in all zones of the city.
