Chennai Plans Major Road Widening; Statues to Be Shifted, Slip Roads Proposed

To clear congested arterial roads, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has announced an ambitious plan to expand Kamarajar Salai running along Marina Beach to eight lanes and create new slip roads throughout the city.

The 2.8-km long Kamarajar Salai, between the Labour Statue and Light House, will be broadened from 23 metres to 29 metres, using 12,595 sq m of parkland on the east side. The widening will also involve shifting nine statues along the Marina. The project further entails the creation of new pedestrian subways along the stretch.

As part of measures to boost traffic movement at key intersections, the corporation will expand the bell mouths at Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai and V.P. Raman Salai intersections with Kamarajar Salai. Nevertheless, the 20-metre-wide Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai will not be altered. For these junction works, the civic body plans to use 2,325 sq m of land from Queen Mary’s College and 105 sq m from the State Commissioner for Welfare of the Differently Abled.

Further south, Sardar Patel Road in Adyar will see significant changes. The road’s width will increase from 26 metres to 40 metres with the development of slip roads designed to ease merging and diverging traffic. These will connect key locations such as the IIT Madras campus, Anna University’s main gate, Alagappa College of Technology, and Gandhi Mandapam Road. Land acquisition includes 800 sq m from IIT Madras and 3,800 sq m each from Gandhi Mandapam and Anna University. Another slip road will be laid by taking 150 sq m from the Central Leather Research Institute.

Urban planners have voiced caution. Prof. K.P. Subramaniam said slip roads and widened junctions are helpful, but blanket road widening is “not sustainable,” often encouraging overspeeding and reducing pedestrian space. K. Kumar, former CMDA Chief Planner, warned that “road widening is not a solution to traffic congestion” and advocated alternatives like Bus Rapid Transit Systems or Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit instead of sacrificing parkland along Marina Beach.