Sept. 10: South City Mall is building an elevated walkway across Prince Anwar Shah Road to take visitors straight to the first floor of the shop, dine and entertainment destination that has been under renovation since February.

The elevated walkway, with escalators on either side to spare people the exertion of a climb to reach the deck, will be the first one in Calcutta to be directly linked to a mall.

For those who prefer exercise over ease, there will be stairs alongside the escalators.

"The idea is to give visitors headed for the mall smooth access without having to reach the ground floor or take the trouble of crossing the road," Sushil Mohta, director of South City Projects Ltd, told Metro . "If malls abroad can have such facilities, why not here?"

Mani Square on the Bypass had come out with a grander plan in 2008: two air-conditioned skywalks across the speed corridor. The project has still to take off because of technical hurdles associated with Metro construction.

The decision to have an exclusive walkway linking the opposite flank of Prince Anwar Shah Road with South City Mall was apparently part of the original renovation plan, but was kept under wraps until the developers obtained police permission.

Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, has cleared the project with an understanding that "pedestrian crossovers" on that stretch of the thoroughfare would be restricted once the structure is ready, mall officials said.

According to the blueprint, the South City walkway would be four metres wide and around 7.5 metres above the road. The interiors of the mall would be altered to match the approach to the first floor from the deck.

The elevators would have a gradient of 45 degrees for the comfort of visitors using the walkway. One of the escalators at the southern end would land on a patch of green in front of the mall while another on the opposite footpath would start from near the SBI e-corner.

The pathway stretching across the entire width of Prince Anwar Shah Road would not have any demarcations for entry and exit. It would be a free-flowing stretch with toughened glass on either side.

Soil testing was done a few weeks back and construction is scheduled to begin shortly. The completion target is early 2018.

Once the structure opens, the mall would be required to have a separate exit for visitors headed towards Tollygunge. This should ensure there is no crowding at the main exit, a senior traffic police officer said.

"We plan to shift the existing bus stop some 500 metres ahead towards the Tollygunge-end. Shoppers exiting the mall would have to walk down a few steps from the gate if they intend to catch a bus," the officer said.

Shoppers intending to take public transport to go towards Jadavpur from the mall would need to take the covered walkway. "The idea is to keep traffic flow as smooth as possible on both flanks of the road," the officer said.

The average daily footfall at South City Mall before some sections closed for renovation was around 40,000. On holidays and special occasions, the turnout is 1.35 lakh on an average. A record footfall of 2.3 lakh was recorded on Christmas Day in 2016.

So, would the walkway be able to bear such a heavy load? "A considerable number of our patrons commute by private cars or taxis. Residents of South City Towers too constitute a large section of the regular footfall. For the rest, there is no reason to worry," Mohta said.