Chennai: Taking into account a recent survey showing that 56 % of the city population travels either on foot or by cycle, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is planning continuous footpaths, safe pedestrian crossings, dedicated cycle tracks, refurbished bus stops, digitalised on-street parking and properly scaled carriageways in streets known as “Complete streets” or “Mega Streets.”
The GCC has roped in international and national level architects and consultants to create a master plan for roads running to about 1,000 km in Teynampet, Nungambakkam and Adyar zones, covering approximately 70 sq km. As part of the 'smart cities policy,' the corporation aims to retrofit and redevelop an integrated city with connected developments.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) with Tamil Nadu Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) and GIZ Smart-SUF are creating walking and cycling friendly TN cities.
The consultants study current projects and conduct surveys to understand the local needs. They also consult cyclists, women, children and other road users. The designs will reflect the locality's history and culture while keeping in mind the environmental sustainability and importance is also given to greenways around water bodies.
“According to ITDP's study. More than 85 % of the population in the first phase of 75 sq km of the city lives within 5 minutes from a public transit. Yet they remain inaccessible due to lack of safe and comfortable footpaths” says Aswathy Dilip from ITDP.
The project prioritises people over motorised vehicles and focuses to improve the user experience ensuring seamless connectivity. As a part of the project, they have introduced cycle sharing and Smart Bikes are available in many spots throughout the city. About 9,114 people have registered and about 26,246 people used the rental facility between Feb. 27 and May 14.
The Pedestrian Plaza project to provide improved walkways, wheel chair passages, LED lampposts and traffic islands at North and South Boag road junctions, is progressing between Theyagaraya Nagar and Mount Road junction. The master plan prioritises shaping spaces for the people by creating city wide networks for walking and cycling which includes pedestrian-only streets, reusing spaces under flyovers, development of cycling and walking trails along canal edges. The GCC has taken the streets of Pesaro in Italy as an example of a smart city to map landmarks for lanes dedicated to cyclists as found in Metro Stations. When asked about the current state of the project, Aswathy said, “The NMT project includes city-wide plan preparation and detailed design implementation. Hence, it cannot be established overnight. It requires planning and the GCC is carefully analysing the opportunities as well as possible challenges and is working on them meticulously.” With over 1,500 anganwadis and over 250 corporation schools in city, Chennai Corporation envisages to achieve improved mobility to all learning centres through this NMT Masterplan, thereby making a citizen -friendly city.
