GCC Starts Survey to Beautify 4.8 Km Gateway of Chennai Stretch From Airport to Kathipara
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has commenced an initial survey to develop and beautify the "Gateway of Chennai" along the 4.8-kilometre stretch from the Chennai Airport to the Kathipara flyover. The civic project aims to enhance the city's imageability and visibility for incoming visitors through modern city scaping, landscape architecture, and park makeovers.
A key meeting of senior officials from various government agencies, including the GCC and the Highways Department, is scheduled for next week to finalize the project's details. Officials confirmed that the beautification work will not require any land acquisition.
The project involves extensive landscaping with native shade trees, seasonal flowering trees, plants, shrubs, and green medians. It will also feature improved street lighting designed to ensure it does not affect air traffic. Two existing parks along the corridor—one owned by the GCC and the other by the Highways Department—will undergo complete makeovers as part of the initiative.
According to K.P. Subramanian, a former professor of Urban Engineering at Anna University, the urban design elements are intended to enhance the enroute visibility of the transit corridor. He suggested the inclusion of distinctive welcoming boards depicting Tamil culture, classical art, and the city's heritage.
The streetscape design will follow a common language, incorporating aesthetic signboards, elegant road markings, street furniture, modern bus shelters, footpaths, and cycle tracks.
K. Kumar, a visiting faculty member at Anna University's School of Architecture and Planning (SAP) and former Chief Planner of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), noted that making the transit from the airport to the city centre pleasant is a worthwhile effort.
However, Kumar highlighted that the airport is currently on the brink of capacity saturation, which has forced some airlines to shift operations to neighbouring cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad. He pointed out that delays in expanding airport capacity or establishing a second airport at Sriperumbudur or Parandur could challenge the overall purpose of the beautification project unless the gateway airport itself remains attractive to global tourists and investors.
