An outer ring road is one of the long pending demands of Coimbatore.
The District Road Safety-cum-Traffic Advisory Committee recently approved the alignment for the western bypass road. Now, steps have been initiated for an eastern bypass road too.
An official of the State Highways Department said that the proposal was in a very early stage. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had handed over the National Highways (NH) 67 in Coimbatore and The Nilgiris Districts to the State Government. It had studied a project proposal for an extension of NH 67. The western bypass proposal for the city was a major project and efforts for an eastern bypass should also start at some point of time and it has been mooted.
An official of the NHAI added that it has handed over the road (NH 67) to the State Government and had studied the feasibility of a road from Kangeyampalayam to Mettupalayam. It had proposed toll collection near Karamadai. There were objections to the location proposed for a toll plaza as the project was to be taken up on public-private-partnership mode.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, says that Coimbatore needs a bypass road connecting Neelambur and Narasimhanaikenpalayam and a bypass road for Mettupalayam. It is one of the main infrastructure needs of the city.
The proposal was discussed at a meeting of the committee recently and it is in a very preliminary stage. If the eastern bypass is implemented by the State Government it will invest its funds and hence, there will not be any toll collection.
There are several other projects that are in advanced proposal stage and are waiting to be implemented in the city. The focus now should be on implementing the western bypass road.
The western bypass road has been approved by the Government, the alignment has been drafted and hence, it should be implemented at the earliest. When the western bypass road becomes a reality and if the eastern bypass road is also developed, the city will have an outer ring road, he says.
