The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Gridlock as projects fail to take off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 25, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Gridlock as projects fail to take off

By Karthik Subramanian

CHENNAI, FEB.24. In the last three years, Chennai Corporation has discussed at least nine major subways or bridges to decongest traffic hotspots, but not one project has progressed beyond the drawing boards.

For a city with a growing vehicle population — with over 18 lakh motor vehicles, 14 lakh bicycles and other non-motorised vehicles — experts feel the Government has not done enough in recent years to manage traffic. Not only have Government agencies failed to build any flyover or subway, they have also ignored demands to improve parking management.

A senior urban planner says traffic planning appears to have been frozen in recent years. "The roads are of better quality and the medians are looking good ... but to what avail are these if traffic grinds to a halt during peak hour," he questions.

Peak hour traffic has become a harrowing experience for most city motorists. With a majority of the city's workforce moving southwards, especially towards the IT corridor in Taramani, traffic snarls at major junctions are becoming a nightmare for people wanting to reach their workplace in time.

B. Balaji, who travels to work everyday from Kolathur to an I.T. company at Taramani, is planning to take up bachelor's accommodation at Adyar and meeting up with his parents on weekends. "The traffic is simply too much to take," he says.

The government has considered building new bridges and subways, though the projects have not materialised so far. Confusion prevails among government agencies as to who is responsible for expediting the pending projects.

According to government records, a number of the flyover and subway projects have been pending with the Railway Board for clearance. The delays are also leading to cost escalation. The estimated cost of the railway overbridge at Rangarajapuram in T.Nagar has gone up by Rs.3 crores. The file keeps shuttling between the State Government to the Railway Board, civic officials say. The cost of project components such as steel has also gone up in recent years.

Last year, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority commissioned Wilbur-Smith Associates to study parking in the city. In its recommendations, the study called for increasing the parking fee and creation of "off-road" facilities such as multi-storeyed parking. However, the government has since then cut the parking fees, and not much information is available on the progress on the multi-storeyed parking facility at Panagal Park.

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