Chennai’s 1st cycle track, at KK Nagar, is a real mess

CHENNAI: The city’s first dedicated cycle track, built in 2017 at K K Nagar for 3.8km along P T Rajan Salai, Ramaswamy Salai, and Lakshmanaswamy Salai, is a shambles.
From the beginning, cyclists and pedestrians, who used the track for their walks, complained of encroachments, mostly people parking their cars or goods vehicles. The Greater Chennai Corporation had then put up signboards saying ‘no parking’, but this made little difference as there was no enforcement of the law.
“When even pedestrians find it difficult to use the track because of the encroachments, how will cyclists use it,” asked N Vishwanathan, who lives in the neighborhood.
But things have got even worse now with the storm water drain project that has been going on for almost one and a half years now. As part of the project, the authorities have dug up the stretch of the cycle track along Lakshmanaswamy Salai. Worse, they’ve said they won’t restore it. “I used to walk five km every morning before. Now it’s impossible as there are too many dug-up areas. No action has been taken despite repeated complaints from residents,” said Vishwanathan.
When TOI asked Corporation officials about the cycle track demolition, they said it was for the storm water drain and wouldn’t be reconstructed as the road had to be extended. “Projects like these seem to be done without proper vision. There is no network plan. The cycle track is not much use to cyclists from outside the neighborhood anyway as there is no connectivity,” says Felix John, a cyclist. The demolition of the cycle track at Lakshmanaswamy Salai has only messed things up further, he said.
The World Bank’s $150 million Chennai city partnership project initiated in 2021 promised sustainable urban services in the city, including expanding pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. But corporation has been unable to maintain an existing facility.