In three months time, spaces beneath flyovers at Chromepet, Tambaram, Meenambakkam and Pallavaram will have lush green gardens. The Highways Department has begun work to beautify the spaces beneath these facilities at a total cost of ₹5 crore.
“Since there is open space beneath flyovers, people tend to dump stuff including garbage and even building debris. People also misuse the space by spitting. The effort is to prevent this and also pasting of posters on pillars and defacing the walls. The pillars would have vertical gardens with individual drop irrigation facility to water the plants. These are not just efforts to beautify spaces, we hope these works would discourage people from misusing them,” explained a source in the Highways Department.
The space beneath the flyovers would also have fountains, sculptures and focus lights. Presently, construction of short walls for landscaping and other structures are going on. The works are expected to be completed in three months time.
The contractor would have to maintain the gardens, lights and other structures for five years. Works including installation of borewells and sumps, at flyovers at Moolakadai, Poonamallee High Road at Nelson Manickam Road, Thirumangalam flyover too would commence within 10-15 days.
Under the CRIDP package, a total of 120 wards are to be taken at a total cost of ₹160 crore. These include construction of stormwater drains, widening of the Medavakkam-Mambakkam-Sembakkam Road from end-to-end using available land.
‘Maintain properly’
Besant Nagar resident G. Ramakrishnan said that such green islands were welcome on city roads but care must be taken to maintain them properly. “We have cattle roaming around freely on roads. Also people tend to break public property like granite slabs and covers of drains. CCTV cameras and security should also be provided so that these spaces remain the pride of the city,” he said.
