Photo: Harrington Road, Chennai - 2017 Chennai - Streets for People Photo: Chennai’s Pedestrian Plaza in Pondy Bazaar, 2019 Experiential walk with key stakeholders Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai Government officials were taken on a ‘walk’ to sensitise them on the woes of pedestrians and the need for better streets Drawing Inspiration - Study Tours Land Transport Authority (LTA), Singapore Officials from Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on a study tour to learn about Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) best-practices Drawing Inspiration - Study Tours Residency road, Bangalore Officials from GCC on a study tour to learn about best-practices in street design Building capacity - Hands-on workshops Greater Chennai Corporation Engineers from GCC undergoing hands-on training to understand the principles of street design. Building capacity - Hands-on workshops Greater Chennai Corporation Engineers from GCC undergoing hands-on training to understand the principles of street design. First set of streets redeveloped Before After Second Avenue, Besant Nagar (2013) Second Avenue, Besant Nagar (2014) Wide streets, with edges encroached by parking, forced the pedestrians Space reclaimed by streamlining parking, to create wide and to walk along the carriageway in friction with fast moving traffic continuous footpath for safe pedestrian movement. First set of streets redeveloped Before After Police Commissioner Office Road, Egmore (2013) Police Commissioner Office Road, Egmore (2014) Narrow footpath with utility box and trees obstructing movement, The footpath was widened and the utility boxes —in coordination with rendering them unusable the electricity department— were realigned to optimise space. Chennai adopts NMT Policy Photo: Besant Nagar 2nd Avenue - 2014 Inspired and Informed Action 2014 - 2019 Since the adoption of a NMT priority Policy, Over 150 kms of streets have been transformed into complete streets Map: Transformed streets (Colours indicate different phases) Photos: Before (2017) & After (2018) Transformation - Raman Street, T Nagar Building support - Public Consultation Sivan Park, KK Nagar, Chennai Citizen groups, councillors, government officials, media houses et al. in a public consultation—where they were presented with the NMT vision for the city— to get feedback and build consensus for the project. Building support - Public Consultation Mylapore, Chennai (2019) Discussion between the resident welfare association representatives in Mylapore, traffic police and other stakeholders to discuss concerns and strategize solutions to improve the neighbourhood Promoting ‘Safe roads to schools’ through community participation Sringeri Mutt Road, Mylapore (2019) School students, residents and traffic police collectively implementing a tactical-urbanism to improve safe access to schools Reimagining streets - Car-free Sundays 2015-2019 Car-Free Sundays - launched at Elliot’s promenade, to promote the idea of celebrating streets as public spaces for walking, playing and socialising. Over 150 Car-free days have been conducted so far with the plans of expanding it to more locations this year. Elliot’s promenade, Besant Nagar, Chennai Car-Free Sundays - launched to promote the idea of celebrating streetsPhoto: Aas hands public-on spaces studio for session walking, at SAP,playing Anna and University socialising. Over 150 Car-free days have been conducted so far with the plans of expanding it to more locations this year. A street turned Public-Space Chennai’s First Pedestrian Plaza Inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister With the pledge, his government will upgrade all arterial roads as complete streets and create more such high quality public spaces throughout the city and the state. Photos: Before (2017) and After (2019) of the Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza Public consultations at the inception Photo: Representative from ITDP explaining the vision to the shop owners association of Pondy Bazaar (2015) Demonstration through tactical urbanism Photo: Citizens experiencing the space during a trial run of the project (2016) Building support through negotiations Photo: Citizens experiencing the space during a second trial run of the project (2017) Moving on to Implement The transformation of pedestrian plazas Construction of Pedestrian plaza in Pondy Bazaar, Chennai Key Highlights Before The transformation of After pedestrian plazas Sectional illustration depicting the transformation in Pondy Bazaar Inclusive design for all Free shuttle service for all - priority to people with limited mobility Vibrant street furniture Play equipment for kids Well lit with street and pedestrian lights With tree cover and planters Safer access to Public Transport Better First & Last-mile connectivity Photo: Public bicycle-sharing station next to the bus stop, Pondy Bazaar (2019) Streamlined parking management Photo: Streamlined parallel-parking with clear signage and parking wardens on-duty - Pondy bazaar (2019) Chennai: The way forward Scaling up : Mega streets programme City-wide transformation Chennai Mega- streets project An unprecedented 16 bids received for the preparation of RfP - Selection Initiated underway to transform 6 Nungambakkam neighborhoods as walking priority areas Chennai Royapettah with 110 Kms of streets ● Area: 420 sq km ● Road length: into Complete streets in ○ ~600 kms of Arterial and Sub-arterial streets Mylapore its Phase 1 (GCC) ○ 286 kms of urban roads under other RFP floated with a 3 stage department (HD, TNRDC) within GCC limits elimination system to ● Estimated project value of ~Rs.10000 Crores Guindy ensure participation of Adyar high quality, nationally Phase 1 renowned consultants ● Area: 70 sq km ● Road length: Velachery ○ ~110 Kms of Arterial and Sub-arterial streets ● Estimated project value of ~Rs.1500 Crores Photo: Team from GCC & CSCL at Pune68 sq.kminteracting Area with PMC officials while on a study tour - Nov 2018 Streets for People Presented by: Meghanath Reddy, IAS Deputy Commissioner R&F and (i/c)Works Greater Chennai Corporation [email protected].