Running from east to west, the 14-kilometre (8.7 mi) road starts at Muthuswamy Bridge near Madras Medical College at Park Town and ends near Maduravoyal Junction via Kilpauk, Aminjikarai, Anna Nagar Arch, Arumbakkam, Koyambedu.

The road, particularly along its eastern end, has some of the most impressive civic institutions and heritage structures of the city, including the Ripon Building (the seat of civic body), the Victoria Public Hall (the city's Town Hall), the Central train station, the Moore Market (razed in the late 20th century), Madras Medical College, and St Andrew's Kirk.

It connects two of the vital transport installations of the city, Chennai Central railway station and the CMBT.

[citation needed] In 2013, a new and wider bridge on the road across the Cooum river near Ampa Skywalk was planned at an estimated cost of ₹ 80 million under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Programme (CMDP).

Many private healthcare centres were opened since then, such as B M Sundaravadanan Nursing Home in 1934 and Ramarau Polyclinic in 1938, which had one of the earliest X-ray units.

Officials of the state highways department cleared the encroachments that had reduced the width of the road.

The idea is to create a traffic corridor connecting Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road through the congested neighbourhoods of Chetpet, Nungambakkam and T. Nagar.

[11] In 2014, the highways department fixed the alignment of a 5.18-km-long, 4-laned elevated corridor that will take off at Raja Muthiah Salai, near Ripon Buildings, and descend near Pulla Reddy Avenue in Shenoy Nagar.