The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will develop the Gateway of Chennai along the 4.8 km stretch from Airport to Kathipara flyover and provide modern city scaping along the stretch.

Initial survey has started for development of the Gateway of Chennai, and a meeting of senior officials has been scheduled next week to discuss all aspects of the project, in the presence of various government agencies. Land acquisition may not be required for the project. The project involves landscape architecture and beautification with native flowering plants, shrubs and trees, better lighting without affecting air traffic.

Two parks along the stretch will receive a makeover as part of the city scaping initiative and development of the Gateway of Chennai. A park which is owned by the Corporation along the stretch and another park owned by the Highways Department will receive a makeover as part of the project, officials said. The key aspects of the project will be finalised next week.

K.P. Subramanian, former professor of Urban Engineering, Anna University, said: “The elements of the urban design project to enhance the imageability of the city and the enroute visibility may include among others a distinctive welcoming flex boards depicting the inspiring Tamil culture, classical art, and the heritages of the city.”

The streetscape design components like aesthetic sign boards, elegant road markings, street furniture, bus shelters with modern design, footpaths, and cycle tracks, follow a common design language. The features of landscaping are similar to native shade trees, seasonal flowering trees, plants, shrubs, and green medians, he said.

K. Kumar, Visiting faculty, SAP, Anna University and former Chief Planner, CMDA, said: “The idea of making the transit from the Chennai airport to the city centre both pleasant and attractive to the visitors is really worthwhile provided everything else is in order.”

“The purpose of the very idea hinges heavily on the prospective international visitors to the Chennai. That the airport is already on the brink of over-saturation of capacity has forced many airlines to shift their operation to the neighbouring airports at Bengaluru or Hyderabad. What has added fuel to the fire is all the serious efforts made in the last 15 years to expand the capacity to the existing airports, by way of additional runway or annexing additional adjacent land or developing a second greenfield airport at Sriperumbadur or Parandur have fallen through leaving the policymakers in limbo,” he pointed out.

Unless and until the airports, being the prominent gateway to the State Capital are attractive enough neither global direct investments nor foreign tourists would make a beeline to Chennai. “That the alternative site for the second international airport is not yet on the cards and the long gestational time needed before its commissioning menacingly militate against the idea of beautifying the airport travel corridor,” he noted.