CHENNAI: The city’s first designated bicycle path in KK Nagar has a hole which can swallow both wheels of a bicycle and potentially floor the rider. While this portion along Ramaswamy Salai has been covered with an old PVC door, it cannot take the weight of a pedestrian, let alone a cyclist. Residents claim that the temporary arrangement has been in place for more than five months.
While it is unclear whether anyone has fallen into the storm water drain which passes underneath, locals say they have been giving the portion a wide berth by using the road.
“The Electricity Board broke the cycle path to fix some wires passing underneath and never replaced it,” said a security guard in the adjacent apartment complex.
However, officials in the TNEB substation a few buildings away claim that the portion was never broken and that the corporation had skipped cementing the portion when the cycle path was constructed in 2017.
“We placed the broken PVC door to ensure people don’t fall down,” said V Bhaskar, a TNEB official.
The Corporation, however, offered a completely different narrative. “The TNEB keeps breaking open the portion to perform repairs and they don’t cement it closed,” said a junior engineer in Zone 10, lamenting how lack of coordination puts residents in danger.
Trees planted along the footpath in RK Shanmugam Street which connects Lakshmanaswamy Street to Ramaswamy Street hinder pedestrian and cyclist movement.