The Chennai Corporation is set to construct the largest skywalk in the city, connecting the Fort and Beach Railway stations and other neighbourhoods of the George Town.
The civic body on Thursday finalised the feasibility report for the 1.87km facility connecting seven locations — Fort Railway Station, Esplanade Metro Rail Station, High Court, Broadway Bus Terminus, Flower Bazaar, NSC Bose Road and Beach Railway Station.
The skywalk will have a width of 4 metre and a vertical clearance of 5.5 metre.
Design
“The design of the skywalk will have elements of Indo-Saracenic architecture. The heritage conservation committee will have to clear the design as heritage buildings such as the Madras High Court are in the proximity,” said an official.
The skywalk will have escalators at all the seven locations where ramps have been planned.
“The T-shaped skywalk will offer multimodal integration. It will connect commuters of bus, rail and private transport. The proposed multi-level car parking will accommodate a large number of vehicles,” said an official of the Chennai Corporation.
The civic body has studied the number of visitors to all the key locations around Madras High Court. The number of visitors to Fort Railway Station per day is 22,000. Broadway Bus Terminus 41,000, Beach Railway Station 13,000, High Court Bus Stop 13,000 and Flower Bazaar 17,000.
In T. Nagar
In T. Nagar, another skywalk will connect the Mambalam Railway Station and T. Nagar Bus Terminus. “The alignment through Ranganathan Street is feasible. The structure will be 600 metres long,” said an official. More than 86,000 commuters from the Mambalam Railway Station are expected to use the skywalk.
Other skywalks proposed earlier in the city include the facility near Central Railway Station.
