Space below three flyovers in city to be turned into leisure places for the public

Space below three flyovers in city to be turned into leisure places for the public

Komal Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.08.2021

The space under flyovers is either used for dumping construction debris or as illegal parking space for street hawkers. This is set to change in the next few months, as the civic body has launched a drive to identify and beautify these spaces.

The first three flyovers in the pipeline are the Gandhi Mandapam flyover, G K Moopanar flyover and Pantheon Road flyover.

Under the chief minsiter’s Singara Chennai project, the civic body is teaming up with Chennai metro rail and the state highways department to beautify these idle spaces with water fountains, flowering plants, art work and seating arrangements.

A joint inspection was also held on Thursday when the civic body finalized the Koyambedu junction for the next renovation project along with the CMRL. The work at Kathipara flyover is nearing completion.

Gagandeep Singh Bedi, corporation commissioner, said they review the beautification work every 15 days, and recently decided to redesign spaces under flyovers. The corporation alone won't be executing these projects, as metro rail, highways and other departments will also be involved in the process.

Four stretches maintained by CMRL— Koyambedu to Alandur, Tondiarpet to Wimco Nagar, Saidapet to Airport and Alandur to St Thomas Mount will be revamped. Fourteen flyover spaces by state highways department, including Vysarpadi flyover, are also on the revamp list. In total, there are 35 flyovers and about 150 bridges that will be revamped.

The civic body has already set up vertical gardens at the IIT-M flyover, but they now plan to add a small garden, water fountains and seating arrangements. It will be a place where people can hang out. These will be undertaken using CSR funds and some work will be taken up under capital expenditure, said an official.

FACELIFT: The civic body plans to add a small garden, water fountains and seating arrangements at the IIT-M flyover