Footpaths raised in OMR for the safety of the pedestrians
Posted on: 27/Feb/2019 9:55:01 AM
Footpaths are used by the pedestrians to walk safely is known. Sometimes walking on the footpaths could become dangerous also. It is now revealed that TNRDC or Tamil Nadu Road Development Company is raising the heights of the footpaths so that OMR or Rajiv Gandhi Salai would become more pedestrian friendly. To prevent vehicles from encroaching them, the footpaths from Sholinganallur to Karapakkam and a portion at Okkiampettai has been raised by few centimetres now.
The point to be noted is till now the footpaths and service lanes along the IT corridor have been almost at same height and the design of paver blocks differed. Sometimes the main carriageway is chock-a-block with huge traffic and at that time footpaths and service lanes are used by many motorists. A resident belonging to PTC quarters expressed his views and spoke about how call taxis sometimes create issues by driving at high speeds and they cause the pedestrians to scatter. On the IT corridor, evenings are usually busy as there would be many small food outlets present on the sides at many stretches.
According to a source belonging to TNRDC, the work is taken up by their department in a phased manner. The height in the other stretches has been raised for the safety of the pedestrians and these footpaths needed re-laying also. The source pointed out that paver blocks were laid so that the ducts below could be opened when needed. An official later explained about how the surface of the road is being renewed from Madhya Kailash to Apollo hospitals junction. An amount of Rs 10 crores is being spent on this work now.
The information collected is the riding surface of the IT corridor is better than most other roads in the city. There are some stretches that are bumpy and these are getting re-laid. It is now said that the soil tests that were carried out recently for metro rail has made the surface uneven and these would also be covered. The official finally spoke about how the road is being cold milled and re-laid to prevent increase in height.
