CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation is decorating half-a-kilometre stretch below the Radhakrishnan Salai flyover with granite and marbles to build what officials call a plaza-cum-park for walkers.
The cost of the project is an estimated Rs 4.62 crore, which is more than what the civic body spends annually on infrastructure and equipment in 281 schools (Rs 3.93 cr) or in the 138 primary health centres (Rs 4.31 crore) it runs.
“We were told the park had to look beautiful as several VVIPs pass through the area,” a worker at the site told Express. The flyover is in a posh locality and opposite the Music Academy.
The space had previously hosted an ambitious garden that failed despite repeated efforts. As vehicles passed by either side of the flyover, the plants withered due to pollution and the soil quality degraded.
The new project aims to change the garden into a granite park with granite kerb and footpath - measuring 2,000 m - for joggers and walkers with enough benches to rest.
The project started in August last is expected to be completed in a few weeks. Advait Jani, Program Coordinator at The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, who helped design the infrastructure, said the project had been on paper for years before it actually materialised. “The place has a lot of cultural importance, so we thought we’ll create a new public space that can be used for performing arts in the future,” he said. He suggested that security and maintenance could be taken up by the restaurants in the locality as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.
But some of the locals were not upbeat. “A resting place in the middle of a busy road makes little sense as not too many people can use it. And there is very little space to park vehicles here,” said Sadhashivam R, a resident of Mylapore.
Provision has been made for parking an ambulance and one emergency police vehicle under the flyover, but the rest of the space has been made inaccessible by the granite platform and bollards. “Had they not built a raised platform, this space could have been used as even paid parking space. Now there is very little space for vehicles,” he said.
The new provision for U-turn has been welcomed by drivers who use the road. “We don’t have to waste time waiting at a signal to take a U-turn and it also decongests traffic at the signal,” said Murali K, who works at a restaurant on Radhakrishnan Salai.