Chennai: Two-tier parking opposite Central railway station by end of year – Times of India

CHENNAI: Finding a parking spot for your vehicle on the bustling Poonamallee High Road near Central railway station may soon become a breeze as a two-level underground parking space is being readied by December.
Constructed as part of CMRL’s Rs 400 crore Central Square project, the parking space coming up opposite Central will also serve as the foundation for the 30-storey Central Plaza building.
According to metro rail officials, the parking space will have a capacity for 500 cars and 1,000 two-wheelers. This will be in addition to the parking space attached to Central metro, which has a capacity for 100 cars and 200 two-wheelers. “Our parking lots are normally open for both metro rail passengers as well as for others,” an official said.
The Central Plaza planned on top of the two-level parking will also have bus bays for outstation and local buses while the 30-storey building is expected to have offices, restaurants and shopping areas.
While the underground parking is expected to serve visitors to Central Plaza, passengers who want to catch a bus or board a metro or even suburban or outstation trains at Central may be able to park their vehicle in the space.
Central Square is expected to provide multimodal transportation for commuters to help them seamlessly shift between different modes of transport such as outstation or local buses, suburban trains, MRTS services and outstation trains.
While a similar underground parking space is under construction at the Thiru Vi Ka Park at Shenoy Nagar, transport experts said opening such spaces will lead to an increase in vehicles on the road as it will only encourage people to use their own vehicles instead of public transportat.
“Parking is magnetic, when you give provision, people tend to take their vehicle. Especially during covid, lots of public transport users have migrated to personal transport mode. Increasing parking spaces will invite even more personal vehicles, leading to congestion. The government should also ensure it provides good public transport along with space for last-mile connectivity to allow people to decide their choice of transport.,” said Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, manager- transport system, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP-India).