CHENNAI: Median strips in 123 roads in the city, mostly arterial, are set to get a facelift with the Greater Chennai Corporation taking up repair and greening works. Gandhi Irwin road in Royapuram zone, GN Chetty road, Nelson Manickam road, College road and Nungambakkam high road in Teynampet zone and Arcot road in Kodambakkam zone feature in the list of roads where the medians are among those to be improved.
“Work in Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar road (at Raja Annamalaipuram) has already been completed. We’ve introduced new flowering plants there as part of the greening initiative,” said a senior corporation official.With the civic body taking up median improvement works, it may also look at improving pedestrian access in these arterial roads, said experts.
Mid-block pedestrian crossings are a safe way for pedestrians to cross the road, especially in longer stretches like LB road, Nungambakkam high road and Velachery main road where pedestrians cannot be expected to cross only at intersections, said Aswathy Dilip, senior programme manager at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).
These mid-block crossings include a ‘refuge’ for pedestrians- a simple feature that allows pedestrians a safe space to stand after they have crossed halfway. They may then wait at the refuge to check traffic and proceed to the other side.
“Often, pedestrians use the small gaps in the medians which could be dangerous since motorists do not see them coming. In the case of refuge, bollards can be used around them so as to keep motorists from misusing the pedestrian space,” Aswathy Dilip said.
According to Indian Road Congress guidelines, commercial and mixed use areas should have mid-block crossings every 80-150 metres and every 80-259 metres in residential areas. Ideally,the medians should have pedestrian refuges of sufficient size (1-2 metres wide & 2.4-4.8 metres long) where pedestrians can wait safely while crossing.
“Crossings should be at street level, not via subways or over bridges,” Aswathy said.Furthermore, having designated crossing zones will reduce unsafe crossings, said VS Jayaraman, a T Nagar resident.
“In places like Venkatanarayana road, I see residents using any gap available in the median to cross. The civic body should take necessary measures so that pedestrians can cross only where they are supposed to,” he said.