FOB removal for flyover work a collateral damage

Chennai: While the new L-shaped Madhya Kailash flyover has eased traffic flow towards Tidel Park, its construction has made crossing OMR risky for pedestrians. The foot-over bridge near Kasturba Nagar MRTS station was demolished for the project, forcing commuters to navigate the busy highway on foot. Residents said stop-gap arrangements made by the traffic police, including pedestrian crossing and installing a crossing signboard, have hardly helped.With the removal of the FOB near the station, there are only two foot-over bridges on the stretch from Tidel Park to Sardar Patel Road at present — one outside Indira Nagar MRTS, predominantly used by students of the women's polytechnic college, and the other near Tidel Park, predominantly used by IT employees. The razing of the FOB near Kasturba Nagar station has not only inconvenienced hospital visitors, but also students of institutes such as printing technology — many of whom run to cross the road and jump over barricades and medians, said T Kannan, a resident of West Canal Bank Road. "The area has several educational facilities, a hospital, and a bus stand. The govt should either construct a new foot-over bridge or deploy police personnel in the area," he added. When asked, a traffic police officer from the Kotturpuram station limits said they have installed rumble strips near the hospital to reduce the speed of incoming vehicles. "Further, on the service road adjoining the hospital, we have three high-resistance polymer concrete (HRPC) speed-breakers. Posting personnel at all times is difficult, as we must redirect deployment near the IIT Madras signal, a crucial bottleneck," he added.However, residents are dissatisfied. "The speed-breakers are only on the service roads, which nobody uses. Vehicles speed on the highway and we need measures to curb speeding there. If not speed-breakers, blinking traffic lights or signals can be installed to help people cross safely," said D Balaji, vice-president of Kasturba Nagar residents' welfare association.Apart from traffic woes, residents flagged that the debris from the flyover demolition was yet to be removed. A visit by TOI revealed that most of the sand excavated for the project was left lying right opposite the children's park adjoining the Miyawaki forest. "This contributes not only to dust pollution, but also turns the area into a put-off for visitors," Balaji added. GCC zonal officer Kalidasan said that though the department in-charge of the work was supposed to clear the debris, he would depute staff to address the issue if residents flagged a complaint. Highways, Metro wing, chief engineer Jawahar Muthuraj said he would take steps to remove the debris at the earliest.