City gets master plan for non-motorised transport, track to link landmarks

The civic body has organised a meeting with private consultants from across the country on Tuesday at the Ripon Buildings where the consultants would be apprised of the scope of preparing master plan.

According to sources, the NMT master plan will integrate the multi-model transportation facilities in the city apart from earmarking roads and streets where facilities for non-motorised transportation to be created.

With more than 1,500 Anganwadi centres and 281 Chennai Corporation schools, the master plan would lead to the improvement of mobility to all the learning centres in Chennai. 

Apart from learning centres, the NMT master plan would help in creating a secondary network layer integrating the primary network with key city landmarks such as religious places, markets, museums, heritage areas, hospitals, parks and water bodies.

“The aim is to create a master plan for a city-wide network of streets for walking and cycling, with a detailed pilot design area of approximately 70 sqkm. The design will prioritise pedestrians over motorised vehicles,” Nashwa Naushad, Senior Associate – Urban Development, Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), said.

The pilot design area would cover Nungambakkam, Royapettah, T Nagar, Mylapore, Guindy, Adyar, Velachery and Taramani, which have been selected based on their rich architectural and cultural significance. The study area has a bus route road network of 59.3 km and 11.8 km of highways.

The master plan will be followed by the Chennai Corporation creating more than 100 km of streets with wide footpaths, safe pedestrian crossings, on-street parking and other aspects.

It is learnt that the ITDP and the civic body had studied integration example of Pesaro city in Italy. The master plan would likely to propose the creation of pedestrian-friendly special projects under the flyover bridges across Chennai.

After the meeting with the consultants, the civic body would float tenders inviting potential consultants to carry out the preparation of the master plan.