Chennai: Locals reject pedestrian subway at Chromepet – Times of India

CHENNAI: Chrompet residents are up in arms against a government proposal to construct a pedestrian subway near SDNB Vaishnav College and instead demand a vehicular underpass at the railway level crossing (LC no26) so they need not wait everytime the gates are closed for local trains.
The highways department said it will be holding a public hearing for this project on July 8. “I will definitely raise the need for a vehicular pass at this meeting,” said I Karunanidhi, DMK MLA from Pallavaram constituency.
V Santhanam, a residentactivist, said contructing a pedestrian subway at Chrompet, a fast-developing area, would not be of much use. “Why waste public money,” he asked.
Resident welfare associations said a vehicular subway would boost connectivity between Grand Southern Trunk Road and interior areas like Shanthi Nagar, Radha Nagar, Ganapathipuram and even Nanmangalam.
A senior highway official said the original proposal back in 2000 was to construct a pedestrian subway. But after opposition,itwasdecidedtohave a vehicular subway. “However, we could not acquire enough land for a vehicular subway so we revived the pedestrian subway plan so students from nearby colleges and those using shops can easily access the Chrompet railway station and cross the road,” the official said.
Meanwhile, some landowners from whom highways acquired land for the project claimed they were yet to receive compensation.