Chennai: The wait is finally over as the much expected Alandur foot overbridge was opened to public by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Tuesday bringing relief for many commuters.
Alandur has become one of the busy hubs in the city after the Metro station came into existence four years ago which connects all the routes and sees a footfall of nearly 5,000 commuters every day. The station is also the connecting point for the people to reach the Asarkana bus stand, city’s first air-conditioned bus stand and every day numerous commuters had to face a daunting task of crossing the busy road to reach the other end.
Despite the presence of a subway, people had to walk a long way to reach it and it with its poor maintenance, there was a long-standing demand by the commuters to construct a foot overbridge so that it gets easy for them to reach the other side of the road. The construction finally began two years ago by the CMRL and now it’s finally opened to bring about a much-needed relief to the people.
On either end of the foot overbridge escalators are present and people who wish to use the staircases can also make use of it. There is also a ramp at the entrance and lift is present in between which will help senior citizens and wheel-chair bound people.
“From St Thomas Mount, I come to Alandur every day and then catch a bus to Poonamallee. Earlier it was very difficult as we had to wait for a long time to cross the road by jumping over the high median which will be difficult especially at peak hours. Now with this new foot overbridge, we don’t have to risk crossing the road and this will help us reach the bus stand pretty comfortably without any hassle.”
Syed Ibrahim, a sexagenarian says, “This will be really helpful for senior citizens as there are escalators and also a lift facility. There is also a ramp to help wheelchair-bound people and I hope similar senior citizen and differently-abled friendly FOBs are built in different parts of the city.’