School became parking area
An old Coimbatore Corporation school in disuse has come to the rescue of the civic body in providing more parking space along Cross-Cut Road. A 29,400 sq.ft. site next to Sri Lakshmi Complex is being spruced up to accommodate 200 cars as the parking lots on either margin of the road are bursting at the seams, Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran said here recently.“We have laid a metal top road and are providing eight sodium vapour lamps, a gate and security personnel. The entire work will be over in three to four days,” the Commissioner said.The latest effort to ease congestion in a busy commercial centre of the city has been under the consideration of the Corporation for more than a couple of years. The civic body had suggested that the school could be demolished and a multi-tier parking lot could be built there.According to Corporation sources, there was some reservation early on over demolishing a school especially when councillors wanted the civic body’s educational infrastructure strengthened.But, with the congestion on Cross-Cut Road worsening by the day, pressure began building up on the Corporation to provide more space for vehicles. With over 90 per cent of the shops not providing space for vehicles, the Corporation came in for severe criticism for allowing building rule violations that led to a large space on the road being used for parking.
Initially, the new space may be used as a basic parking lot. But, this site is the best one available yet for the Corporation to have the city’s first multi-tier parking lot. And, the civic body is set to try this out. Going by the development along this 1.2 km road, the Corporation is of the view that an ordinary parking lot may not provide a long-term solution.“What we are doing now is only a temporary solution for the shortage of parking space. We will build a multi-tier parking lot. Only that will meet long-term demand for space,” Mr. Muthuveeran said. Consultants working on the Corporation’s traffic engineering project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission have suggested that Cross-Cut Road can be made a walk zone end-to-end (from Gandhipuram Junction to North Coimbatore Flyover). Battery operated carts can be provided to the aged and those with physical disability for moving on this stretch.If made into a walk zone, a centralised car and two-wheeler parking facility should be provided. In this case, the site identified now seems to be the best option available.
