Foot over bridge plans at junctions on backburner

While hundreds of patients being treated at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) battle their respective ailments, their attenders visiting the GH are waging a similar battle to cross the Bharathidasan road that is not much wider than 50 feet. Same is the case of public attempting to cross the Mainguard gate, Thanjavur road, and Chathiram bus stand. Even as the Trichy corporation earlier in 2015 mooted a plan to install Foot over Bridge (FoB) facility in a phased manner at the identified bustling spots, the proposal continues to linger in abeyance.
MGMGH situated in arterial Bharathidasan Road dotted with government buildings witness heavy traffic most days and during peak hours, crossing the four lane stretch takes much time for the pedestrians including senior citizens to reach the GH from other end. According to the statistics of transport department, the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) of Trichy West, Trichy East, and Srirangam have 3.65 lakh, 0.31 lakh, and 2.36 lakh non-commercial vehicles registered as on April 2017.
As Trichy zone continues to be one of the rapidly increasing region as far as registration of new vehicles is concerned, the city roads are getting busier than ever but not wider. "Trichy is rapidly developing in industrial and education sector. As spiritual tourism add numbers to the floating populace, adequate infrastructure such as FoB is the need of the hour across crowded places including the stretch of Thanjavur road for people to cross the bustling roads," M Muthuganesan, Executive Member, Trichy Intra-City Development Endeavours (TIDES).

Apart from GH, also the Puthur signal, a juncture of motorists heading to Thillai Nagar, Woraiyur, and Thennur continue to be a nightmare for the pedestrians to cross the stretch dotted with private hospitals as vehicles would race past the signal soon as green light blinks. Residents have also sought a FoB in Melapudur, one of the closely packed localities, and as well as over the stretch of National Highways 67 near Ariyamangalam.
At an estimated cost of Rs 99 lakh, though two FoB were planned to be built in Chinthamani and another near Melapudur during November 2015, even as two years have spent, a development taken by local body was not evident.
Corporation sources said that they have planned to do several design changes in the proposed FoB to improve the usability. "FoB without lift facility will be of no use for the elderly people in need of crossing the arterial roads.
We want the FoB to be utilised properly so we are even planning to include such public-friendly projects under smart city project," corporation commissioner N Ravichandran told ToI.

Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/trichy/foot-over-bridge-plans-at-junctions-on-backburner/articleshow/61211125.cms