It is a week since the reconstruction of the footpath began on Ekkathuthangal bridge on Jawaharlal Nehru Main Road. The State Highways Department demolished the 800-metre-long pedestrian facility six months ago to lay utility cables through the footpath. Those cables were once passing through a causeway, across Adyar river, and this causeway was demolished by Water Resource Department of Public Works Department in December 2018 as it was dilapidated. It was also done to restore the original width of the Adyar river. Therefore, the utility cables had to be relocated elsewhere and it was decided that they would be relaid through the footpath along the Ekkathuthangal bridge.

This action follows the article “Footpath on Ekkatuthangal bridge still in a shambles” published in the April 12, 2019 issue of The Hindu Downtown. The article highlighted the plight of pedestrians who were forced to walk on the damaged footpath on the bridge where cables were found protruding. Pedestrians frequent this footpath as the bridge has a staircase on both sides that provide access to neighbourhoods such as Ekkathuthangal and Jhafferkhanpet.

“The footpath work will be completed in a week,” says a State Highways official.