CHENNAI: Pedestrian walkways along the busy Sardar Patel Road and Gandhi Mandapam Road have been reduced to nearly half their original width, thanks to the road extension work by the State Highways Department. Some are too narrow for two people to walk abreast, forcing pedestrians to walk along the road putting their life in danger.
Sardar Patel Road, which connects GST Road at Guindy to Adyar, passes through key institutions like Anna University, Cancer Institute, and II T-Madras. The stretch witnesses severe traffic congestion throughout the day. The road, which connects with Gandhi Mandapam Road, sees thousands of pedestrians daily including students and staff from Anna University, the Directorate of Technical Education, and visitors to the Gandhi Mandapam memorial.
The footpaths, once wide enough to handle heavy foot traffic, have now been drastically narrowed due to ongoing road expansion, especially on the side opposite Anna University, where only one person can walk comfortably at a time.
“Many students and staff use this stretch, particularly during peak hours, it gets crowded. Reducing the walkway’s width is very concerning. While traffic congestion is an issue, pedestrian safety should not be compromised,” said an office staff member of Anna University.
Commuters and pedestrians said the footpaths near the Cancer Institute and IIT-Madras are already not enough to handle the footfall, forcing patients and visitors to walk along the road.
“Further cutting down walkway width here will only push more pedestrians onto the road, increasing the risk of accidents,” said a pedestrian who frequents the area, adding, “While we expected that the pedestrian pathways would be improved along the stretch during road expansion, the opposite is happening.”
A traffic police official, however, said the footpath along the Anna University side has not been reduced as it houses bus shelters frequently used by students. “The opposite side is not heavily used by pedestrians, so it was chosen for reduction to facilitate smoother vehicle movement,” the official added.
A city corporation official from the Bus Route Roads Department said the stretch from Madhya Kailash to Mount Road has been handed over to the State Highways Department following a request from the latter for road expansion and development works. “We also wondered why the pedestrian footpath has been reduced to half, but it seems that it’s part of their road expansion work,” the official said.
