Sidewalks are for....?

Having done a fair amount of walking in Chennai, I can attest that Chennai is NOT pedestrian friendly. Try to cross the road, even in a crosswalk, and you'll be waiting for a while; people don't stop. Walk signs (particularly working ones) are uncommon. IF a sidewalk exists, it's usually usurped by vendors and service people (i.e. the shoe repairman, tailor, or bicycle tire pumper). Or, it has become a parking lot for motorbikes, auto rickshaws, construction material, and cars. Trees and electric or light poles also occupy front and center, leaving little or no room for which to pass. Therefore, pedestrians are often forced to walk on the road. That can be particularly unpleasant after it rains, because the flooded streets require people to either walk further out into the street, slog through the filthy water, and hope you don't get sprayed by a passing vehicle.

In today's Hindu newspaper, an article reported that 42% of all road accidents in Chennai involve pedestrians. 34% of all daily trips involve either walking or riding a bike, with the facilities for both transport modes woefully inadequate. In a study for the Chennai Metropolitan Authority, of the nearly 1,200 km roads in the city, only 20 km have 1.5 meter wide sidewalks. Of 217 major traffic junctions, only 36% have pedestrian crossing signals. Since 1970, the percentage of people walking has actually increased. with reasons cited being impossibility of using cycles and cost of other modes of transport.

I would love to see wider sidewalks that are wheelchair friendly set up, with fines discouraging parking. Trees could be trimmed. More crosswalks need to be added along with pedestrian crossing lights. Motorists who fail to yield to pedestrians need to be fined. Underground or crossing bridges will also help. Certain areas could be made pedestrian-only zones. How about the re-introduction of the trams? What to do with vendors? That's much harder to deal with. Yea, I know I'm being overly optimistic that Chennai will solve its transport problem any time soon.

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