FoB with escalator to come up at Kolathur’s 4-way jn

CHENNAI: The State Highways Department will build a new foot-over bridge (FoB) with escalators and elevators at the four-way Senthil Nagar junction on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, also known as Inner Ring Road, in Chief Minister MK Stalin’s Kolathur assembly constituency.

To be built at Rs 13.54 crore, the proposed FOB will have a square crossing with facilities such as escalators and elevators.

“The pedestrian facility would be a five-metre wide walkway across the carriageway and 3.2 m wide stairs on either side of the carriageway, escalators, and a lift on either side of the carriageway,” explained a senior official from the Highways department. “Ramps will be provided for persons with disabilities at the lift entrance on both sides.”

According to the Highways department’s tender document for the FOB, the number of pedestrians during peak-hour traffic is around 1,004. “The observed value of cycle time of traffic signal is 135 seconds. This 4-way junction is a major connecting road for arterial roads within Chennai and hence, demands uninterrupted traffic flow,” it said.

The existing pedestrian and vehicular traffic scenario at the junction warrants grade-separators and pedestrian-crossing facilities, according to the Indian Road Congress norm.

K Karunakaran, a resident of Teacher’s Colony at Kolathur, said that the FoB construction would help pedestrians cross the road without waiting for the signal and speeding vehicles, particularly, heavy vehicles. “The Highways department should consider providing a service road between the north Korattur signal and Water Canal Road along the Jawaharlal Nehru Salai as two-wheelers and cars are driving on the wrong side from the Canal Road,” he said.