The contractor has been directed to expedite the work that had commenced a few weeks ago, said a Chennai Corporation engineer. “As per the tender, the work should be over before March. We have asked to complete it before the stipulated time. If there are no heavy spells of rain, we would complete it by January,” the engineer said.

The street has been designed to be children-friendly as there are many schools located on the street. It will have a wider pedestrian pavement apart from a children’s play area. “The design also includes parking lots for school vans and buses, so that children could board the vehicles safely,” he added. Kalvi Varu Street links Mundakanniamman Koil Street to Thirumayilai railway station. “The project, implemented under ‘Namakku Naame Thittam’, has been taken up for the beautification of Buckingham Canal,” a Corporation official said. When asked whether the Kalvi Varu Street would be redesigned in line with the pedestrian plaza in T Nagar, the civic body engineer said that the 300-metre long stretch would focus on providing maximum possible pedestrian facilities.

Under the Non-Motorised Transport Policy, the Corporation has proposed to redesign 87 streets extending up to 112 km with bicycle tracks and walkways. Meanwhile, the civic body is contemplating the conversion of North, South, East and West Mada streets in Mylapore as pedestrian-friendly under the ‘Streets For People’ initiative recently launched by the Union Ministry for Urban and Housing Development. Also, the civic body recently finalised Khader Nawaz Khan Road in Nungambakkam to build the city’s second pedestrian plaza after the one in T Nagar under Mega Street Project.