Chennai: One major problem pedestrians at Tambaram face is to reach East Tambaram from West Tambaram and vice-versa.
At present, the Tambaram railway station overbridge is the only link for pedestrians connect between Tambaram-Velacheri Main Road and GST Road.
Sources said the feasibility study conducted by the Highways Department has suggested a 500-metre skywalk connecting the roads. It is said the project will be taken up at a cost of Rs 71 crore.
The proposed skywalk will come up near the Madras Christian College in East Tambaram and will connect SETC bus stop at West Tambaram.
The skywalk is expected to be built in three phases. “Phase-1 will include the highways area of 41.30 metre and the second phase involves railway area of 318.70 metres. The third phase involves 186.70 metres railway area above the tracks,” sources added.
The construction of the skywalk will reduce congestion at the existing railway FoB and also ensure that people do not risk their lives by crossing the railway tracks.
It is said since the major skywalk portion falls on the railway portion, the concurrence of the alignment was obtained from Southern Railway in January this year.
Sources added that the feasibility study has considered that average population rise for the next 20 years will be 1.2 per cent and calculated that by the next two decades, the pedestrian population will rise to 3,900 in the area per hour, which is 65 pedestrians per minute. As such, the width of the foot overbridge is worked out at five metres, as per Indian Road Congress guidelines.