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Many foot over bridges or FOB there in Chennai - Do pedestrians use them?
Posted on: 19/Oct/2021 9:49:01 AM
Who cares about the foot over bridges present in Chennai?
Truth here is that the pedestrians use zebra crossings mostly to cross the roads in Chennai and ignore FOB. These FOB features in Chennai city’s upcoming infrastructure programmes is well known to us.
It is worthy to note that the Chennai Corporation maintains 4 FOB and it is now carrying the work of steel based foot over bridge at Nungambakkam for an amount of Rs 5 crores.
Information is that DPR or detailed project reports are being made now for 3 foot over bridges in localities such as Thirumangalam, Moggappair and Anna Salai near Chinnamalai. It was revealed by data from ITDP or Institute for Transportation and Development Policy that 55% of people who were killed in accidents on OMR were pedestrians.
The surprising piece of information is that OMR in Chennai has the highest number of foot over bridges. Seven foot over bridges have been visited by TNIE for checking their usage. It was found out that a foot over bridge near Mettukuppam was used by a handful of persons even in the peak hours of time. Hopping over the median has become common here. Near the Thoraipakkam bus stop, there is a foot over bridge and this has been rarely used by the public.
Truth is that the gap in the median used by the pedestrians to cross the road has been barricaded. Inspite of presence of plants on the median, many cross over. As per a resident it was clear that she was unable to use the foot over bridge near Karapakkam due to her arthritis pain issue. She added that she used the gap near the junction to cross the road. It was later brought out by a senior researcher, Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group, Sumana Narayanan that the issue goes beyond the design of foot over bridges.
