For years, major cities in Tamil Nadu have prioritised vehicles through budgetary allocations and infrastructure. This is despite the fact that two-thirds of all trips in the state are made by walking, cycling, or using public transport. This year, however, the tide is turning. The Tamil Nadu Budget 2025 marks a pivotal shift with Chennai and Coimbatore taking the lead, placing Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) —like walking and cycling—at the heart of mobility planning, and reimagining streets as spaces for people, not just cars. What sets this budget apart is not just the scale of funding, but the values it reflects—equity, safety, and access for all.
While this development is a step in the right direction and is still in its nascent stages, Chennai’s strides towards creating walking and cycling friendly streets echo some of the early moves seen in cities like Singapore. Singapore has long been a role model for Southeast Asia, known for its integrated public transport and walkable, people-friendly streets, backed by landmark investments like the 1 billion Singapore Dollars’ fund for last-mile connectivity in 2016, and forward-looking policies such as the Active Mobility Act (2017) and Multi-Modal Transport Act (2021). Anchored by the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025, which earmarks significant investments in footpaths, smart parking, and Safe Routes to School pilots, Chennai’s journey could chart a similar course—if implementation keeps pace with vision.
A Historic Leap for Walkability in Chennai
A landmark first – ₹200 crore dedicated funding for 170 km of footpaths in Chennai
This year’s budget has earmarked ₹200 crore for the implementation of 170 km of high-quality footpath in Chennai. This is the largest investment for pedestrian infrastructure in the city to date, and the first time since the Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) Policy of 2014 that footpath development has received such focused financial backing. Announced by Hon’ble Minister K.N. Nehru on March 25, 2025, this move is more than just a line item in a budget—it is a powerful reaffirmation of the state’s commitment to safer, more inclusive streets for all, especially vulnerable road users including children, the elderly, and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
Chennai’s journey: From marginal to meaningful investments!
Chennai’s journey toward walkable streets began with ambition. Following the adoption of its pioneering Non Motorised Transport Policy in 2014 the city saw average annual footpath investments rise to ₹72 crore, resulting in the creation of over 170 km of footpaths between 2014 and 2019—most of it funded through the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund (TURIF). During this time, the city also tapped into the Smart Cities Mission’s Area-Based Development (ABD) funds to implement the now-celebrated Pedestrian Plaza and its feeder streets in T. Nagar.

To scale up its efforts, Chennai launched the Complete Streets program in 2020 (earlier known as “Mega Streets”) with a dedicated ₹100 crore allocation under the Chennai City Partnership with the World Bank. The project aimed to reimagine neighbourhood-level street networks by integrating underground utility upgrades and walk and cycle-friendly above-ground infrastructure. However, the first implementation phase, under progress, covers only around 11 km, leaving behind the demand for a city-wide network of functional footpaths largely unmet.

Analysing the budgetary spending, we found that from 2022 to 2025, Chennai’s investment in footpaths plummeted to just ₹13 crore per year on average. A modest recovery came in FY 2024–25, with ₹25 crore earmarked for 21 km of footpaths, but this was still far from enough to undo years of underinvestment.

However, our analysis also pointed out that over all these years, road resurfacing and carriageway upgrades continued unhindered, reflecting an annual average spending of ₹84 Crores, and a consistent focus toward vehicle-centric planning.

A renewed push: Bringing safety and equity to the forefront
Any policy without dedicated, sustained funding is just a wish. For Chennai to become truly walkable, sustained investment and quality implementation must now follow the city’s renewed aspirations, and 2025 marks a good beginning with this significant dedicated allocation for NMT infrastructure. Analysis of spending patterns on NMT infrastructure over the last three years, reveals that footpath implementation in Chennai relied on piecemeal funding drawn from state and city-level schemes—such as the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund (TURIF) and Singara Chennai 2.0. In the absence of a dedicated budget, investments in Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) remained inconsistent and limited in scale. This year’s ₹200 crore commitment by Chennai, marks an eightfold increase over last year’s spending on walking and cycling. This signals a much-needed shift from fragmented support to focused investment.

This renewed focus on walkability couldn’t have come at a more critical time. While Chennai has made commendable progress in reducing overall road crashes, the proportion of pedestrian fatalities has seen a troubling rise from 11% in 2019 to a staggering 43% in 2023.

This persistent gap between mobility patterns and infrastructure safety highlights the urgent need for course correction, which this budget begins to address. The ₹200 crore allocation is a long-overdue shift toward building streets that are shared public spaces where everyone can move freely and safely. To transform this intent into tangible impact and ensure that the budget is effectively utilised, aligned with diverse mobility initiatives, and executed on time, a dedicated coordinating agency like the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) is crucial.
Bringing It All Together: CUMTA as the institutional backbone
Much like Singapore’s shift to a car-lite city was steered by its Land Transport Authority through various institutional reforms and proactive policymaking, Chennai’s mobility transition is now gaining momentum through the leadership of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). With a clear mandate to coordinate mobility efforts across the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), CUMTA is emerging as the anchor institution for Chennai’s people-first mobility vision.
As part of the Budget 2025, Honourable Minister for Housing & Urban Development, Thiru S. Muthusamy announced an array of progressive initiatives led by CUMTA.
- Building on the newly adopted Parking Policy, CUMTA will pilot Smart Parking Management in Anna Nagar, reclaiming public space and improving local access.
- CUMTA is also developing Comprehensive Street Design Guidelines for the entire Chennai Metropolitan Area—including Tambaram, Avadi, and Kanchipuram—to create safer, more inclusive streets across jurisdictions.
- Complementing this, CUMTA is also drafting the Traffic Impact Assessment Guidelines to help cities manage congestion and ensure new developments align with sustainable transport goals.
These initiatives go hand-in-hand with Tamil Nadu’s growing investment in Non-Motorised Transport—signalling not just a shift in budget priorities, but a change in how cities are planned and governed. With institutions like CUMTA at the helm, Tamil Nadu is building long-lasting systems to realise its people-first mobility vision.
Coimbatore Steps Up: Scaling Sustainable Mobility Initiatives
Building on Chennai’s momentum, Coimbatore is making its own strides towards a more people-centric mobility scenario with this year’s budget embedding sustainable mobility into the city’s planning priorities. Two key initiatives are set to guide this: revising the Coimbatore Street Design Guidelines and developing a comprehensive NMT Action Plan. These tools will help the city set a strong foundation for designing safer, more inclusive streets at scale.
Coimbatore has been grappling with concerns on road safety, with road fatalities rising over 1000 in 2023; ranking highest in the state. In addition to various other initiatives to address this, a ₹2.5 crore allocation has been announced for a Safe Routes to School pilot on Trichy High Road, covering 2.5 km of critical access routes. Together, these moves reflect Coimbatore’s growing commitment to creating well-planned, safe, walkable streets and mark a step forward in scaling sustainable mobility across Tamil Nadu.
A Decade of Partnership: ITDP’s Ongoing Commitment
Since 2009, ITDP in India has worked closely with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), and Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation to help shape their sustainable mobility vision.
Over the years, ITDP has supported with technical research and guidance on key policies and guidelines adopted by city governments, such as the Non-Motorised Transport Policy, Parking Policy, and the Complete Streets Framework. We are also continuing to help cities build the capacity to implement them through on-ground workshops, experiential street audits, and engagements with city leaders. Our role has also included providing technical support and data-driven insights to guide decision-making and strengthen the case for healthier, more equitable streets.
We are happy and proud to have contributed to realising these milestones and are extremely grateful for the past and present city leadership for their sustained support in championing these initiatives.

A Win Worth Celebrating—and Building On
These announcements are worth celebrating, especially for cities like Chennai and Coimbatore, that are leading this change at the forefront. However, the real measure of success lies in how well we translate this vision and intent into long-lasting impact on the ground.
Here are a few pointers for the city governments to make this fruitful:
- Chennai’s ambitious plan to implement 170 km of footpaths must be guided by a clear network planning strategy and aligned with CUMTA’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan.
- Bringing on board qualified technical experts and consultants will be key to ensuring street designs meet the standards laid out in the city’s adopted guidelines.
- Facilitating capacity building for contractors and engineers is equally important to ensure high-quality street implementation. Field engineers must closely monitor implementation quality using well-defined performance indicators to ensure accountability at every step.
- Cities must also embed Operations & Maintenance (O&M) systems right from the planning stage, to ensure infrastructure remains functional and safe for all users.
- Annually recurring budgets for NMT including dedicated budgets for O&M must be institutionalised, so cities can plan consistently and scale.
- One persistent challenge our cities face is siloed execution, where lack of co-ordination leads to utility works disrupting newly built footpaths and guidelines/policies exist on paper without enforcement. Addressing this will require strong inter-agency collaboration, clear mandates, and sustained leadership from institutions like CUMTA.
Chennai and Coimbatore have taken a significant first step. Now, they must stay the course—scaling these successes across other cities of Tamil Nadu, building systems, and creating streets where walking, cycling, and shared mobility are not just possible, but preferred.
By Varsha Vasuhe, Senior Associate, ITDP India
Edited by Kashmira Dubash, Deputy Director, ITDP India