Explore Chennai’s new walking trails and discover its growing fitness culture

Discover Chennai's vibrant and traffic-free stretches that have become a paradise for walkers, joggers, and cyclists.

Chennai’s brief yet wonderful winter mornings are upon us and the streets are teeming with walkers, runners and cyclists, keen to begin or uphold their tryst with good health. It would be a crime to waste this time indoors. If you are looking to ditch the gym and get a breath of fresh air, here are four mostly traffic-free stretches that have emerged as a paradise for walkers amidst the concrete shackles that make the city. 

A snug, little freeway between Perungudi MRTS and Velachery MRTS in Bhuvaneshwari Nagar transforms into a small-scale athletic complex every morning and evening.

The two-kilometre stretch adjacent to serpentine tracks, railway underpasses and newly-planted trees, makes for a stunning canvas at sunrise and its fairly neat roads, a track for runners and walkers.

The Lockdown Warriors, a 15-member crew of 50 and 60-somethings, once used to walk along this road as stray individuals trying to both kick-start a new habit and get out of the house during the lockdown. Today, they wear matching T-shirts, and take part in strength training post walk. The empty halls of the Perungudi MRTS are hence put to good use.

“We end up chatting for a few minutes about day-to-day affairs. We have been able to create a sense of community,” says I Edwin, a member. They also huddle around the same location to drink tea in the evenings.

Waving hi to this group every morning are M Mathivanan and M Sumathi who go on an hour-and-a-half long walk along this stretch, frequently checking their smart watches. The aim, they say, is to clock 10,000 steps in the morning.

“It is a neat straight road that makes for a breezy walk. A team of volunteers from an organisation called Green Velachery have also been planting saplings along this stretch so that there is green cover eventually. It would be nice if the dump along this stretch is cleaned,” says Sumathi.