Widening of carriageways usurping pedestrian pathways in Madurai

Shrinking pedestrian pathways in the city due to encroachment by shopkeepers and road widening, leading to safety concerns.

Pedestrians often rue that their pathways along the arterial roads in the city are shrinking.

While in the commercial areas, the shopkeepers keep their paraphernalia like nameboards, and goods on the sidewalk, roadside vendors also spread their goods.

Thus the pedestrians are forced to walk on the edge of the carriageways that often leads to road accidents.

If this is one way of denying safe passage for pedestrians, the city planners are also usurping the available pedestrian promenades in the city while widening the carriageways to meet the increasing flow of vehicles.

Similarly, an attempt is being made at two junctions on Alagarkoil Road to ease the flow of traffic at sharp turns -- one at Race Course Road junction and another at Bharathi Ula Road junction.

The work has been going on for the past two weeks.

The officials have acquired small pieces of land from Madurai Corporation at the corners.