Chennai
The landscape of chaotic Broadway may soon change as the Greater Chennai Corporation has completed feasibility study to build a multi-modal parking facility over the Broadway bus terminus.
According to a Chennai Corporation senior official, the construction of the multi-level car parking would be like multi-storeyed buildings with stilt. “The ‘stilt’ portion will have bus bays to park MTC (Metropolitan Transport Corporation) buses and the building portions will have car parking and commercial spaces,” said the official.
The multi-level car parking over Broadway bus terminus is a part of Rs 2,000 crore off-street parking project which announced in the state Assembly.
Since the city, has over 40 lakh two-wheelers and more than 8.6 lakh cars, parking has become a major problem in Chennai.
The official added that the feasibility study suggests that there is a possibility of constructing multi-level parking over the terminus, which spreads over 5 acres. “We are, however, yet to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and cost estimation. We will utilise new FSI (floor space index) norms, so that we can build additional floors. Once the estimation and DPR are ready, other processes will begin,” he said.
A few years ago, the civic body had planned to build a multi-level car parking in Broadway but dropped the plan owing to underground Metrorail works. Once the multi-level parking project completed, vehicle owners will be able to park their cars by paying a fee.
Meanwhile, the Corporation official said that the project, apart from regularising the parking in Broadway locality, would link Metrorail and MTC buses. “As a part of the project, we will link bus terminus and Metrorail station so that the people travelling by buses can change between the two modes,” he said.
Presently, MTC operates more than 650 services in 70 routes to several parts of the city from Broadway bus terminus and it is the busiest in the city as it would look crowded even on weekends. To manage the vehicular movement and operation of MTC buses, the terminus will temporarily be shifted to a vacant land nearby that was being used during Metrorail works.
Apart from the multi-level car parking over Broadway bus terminus, the civic body has identified 100 such facilities across the city. Of the total 101 multi-level parking facilities, 24 would have spaces for commercial purposes. Construction works on multi-level car parking in T Nagar, under the Smart City Mission, is underway. Processes are initiated to build another multi-level parking on Sivagnanam Street in T Nagar.
The Chennai Corporation also has identified land for multi-level parking on Mahatma Gandhi Road in Nungambakkam where a lorry depot functions. A feasibility report has been prepared and the civic body has approved it.
Another official said that on-street parking management system under Smart city mission would be implemented in a few weeks. “During the first phase of the implementation, T Nagar, Purasawalkam, Nungambakkam, Taramani, Thiruvanmiyur and Ambattur Industrial Estate apart from Anna Nagar, Besant Nagar and Marina will have on-street parking management system,” he said.
The civic body has identified as many as 12,047 parking slots on 378 bus route roads to implement the on-street parking system. But, two-wheeler owners and car owners should pay Rs 5 and Rs 20 per hour respectively. Parking would be allowed from 8 am to 11 pm.
In another development, state transport minister MR Vijayabhaskar, had on Tuesday, inspected T Nagar bus terminus and said that the government is planning to build a commercial complex with multi-level parking at the terminus. “We have identified 16 bus termini for modernisation and we will take up T Nagar first,” he had said during the inspection.
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