MC Road Pedestrian Plaza

The Greater Chennai Corporation's walkway project along Monegar Choultry Road, begun in May 2024, is close to finished, according to the city's municipal commissioner, who said the work should wrap up by the end of November.

Shop owners say the plan still leaves out a parking arrangement that officials had once promised would come along with the footpath upgrade.

Around 2,000 shops line this stretch and the streets around it, and foot and vehicle traffic there stays heavy through the day. Because the footpaths were widened on each side, the road itself has less room for vehicles, and autorickshaws, bikes and cars keep causing jams.

With nowhere else to put their vehicles, customers keep leaving them on the new footpaths, undercutting the whole point of building a walking-friendly street. Merchants say they were first told two-wheeler parking would be part of the plaza design, then later heard that officials were looking at a spot close to Anna Poonga, though nothing has been settled.

Rather than one central lot, shop owners want three separate parking spots spread across the road's northern, middle and southern sections. They have pointed to several possible spots: empty BSNL land along the road, areas near Kamaraj Park and its library, a portion of Robinson Park, unused corners of Corporation buildings, or even private land the Corporation could buy or rent, possibly for a multi-storey structure.

With close to 2,000 shops depending on this stretch, the lack of parking directly affects how customers reach stores, especially now during the festival season when footfall rises. If vehicles keep spilling onto footpaths, the upgraded walkway may not function as intended, limiting the benefit businesses were expecting from the project.

A Corporation official said attempts to scout locations near Robinson Park ran into resistance from people who use the park, so other sites are still being weighed. Royapuram's MLA, KV Vijay Damu, floated the idea of using land next to Robinson Park's boundary wall, while the Corporation Commissioner, GS Sameeran, said he would consult with stakeholders before settling on a final parking solution.