After shelving two pedestrian plaza proposals, the Chennai Corporation has finally managed to rope in traders for the project in T.Nagar.
On Saturday, the civic body conducted the second phase of trial run to develop a pedestrian plaza in T.Nagar under the Smart City Mission with the support of traders.
During the first trial run organised on November 20, 2016, traders opposed the project and even refused to keep the shops open.
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“We explained that the project would improve footfalls with more public transport connectivity. Alternative arrangements have been made to facilitate loading of material of the traders. Traders supported the initiative this time and kept the shops open,” said an official of the Chennai Corporation.
Currently, buses on four routes, including 12B, 11H, 11G and 12G, frequent the stretch of Thyagaraya Road every three minutes. Following the study, the bus frequency is set to increase along the pedestrian plaza estimated at ₹55 crore.
Traffic along Thyagaraya Road from Panagal Park was diverted for the trial run. Buses and motorcycles alone were allowed on the stretch. Cars, autorickshaws, shared autos and vans were diverted.
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“Owing to the trial run, pollution levels reduced significantly on Thyagaraya Road. Nitrogen dioxide reduced from 83.2 microgram per cubic metre on Friday to 29.5 microgram per cubic metre on Saturday,” said an official.
During the trial run, traffic congestion was less. “Despite being a Saturday when traffic is generally expected to increase, the street saw a decrease in the number of stationary vehicles. The traffic re-routing was quite successful, with a lot of support from the Chennai Traffic Police,” said Aswathy Dilip, Manager, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy.
“Due to the longer duration of this trial, the activities were split into various slots across the morning and afternoon sessions. The morning was dedicated to kids with games such as carrom, chess and life-sized snake and ladder and a drawing competition on Smart City. Health camps organised by the Corporation attracted a number of senior citizens,” she said.
The earlier plans to have pedestrian plazas in Mylapore and Chepauk were shelved because of protest by traders and other reasons.