Five major road works will take off in the city shortly, at a total cost of Rs. 13.3 crore, and these would be completed by the end of March next year.
An official of the State Highways Department told The Hindu on Friday that 2.5 km stretch from Avila Convent school to Edayarpalayam would be widened to a 10.5 m road. It was now seven m wide. The State Government had sanctioned Rs. 2.7 crore for the project. The works would start when the underground drainage works would be completed. Electricity poles would be shifted and trees brought down for the widening works.
Another stretch, 0.9 km from Government College of Technology to Avila Convent School would be improved at a cost of Rs. 90 lakh.
With Vadavalli developing at a rapid pace, roads need to be improved and widened to handle the heavy traffic flowing in and out of the area. Hence, 3.6 km from Lawley Road junction to Mullai Nagar at Vadavalli (3.6 km) would be made into a four lane one at a cost of Rs. 6 crore. The 5.2 km from Vadavalli to Kavundampalayam would be widened to a 7 m road from the existing 5.5 m at a cost of Rs. 2.7 crore. Here too, the electricity poles would be shifted and trees felled to widen the road.
Nearly 2.4 km from Maruthamalai School to Veerakeralam, which was 3.75 m wide, would be widened into a 5.5 m wide road at a cost of Rs. 1 crore.
These were major road works in the city for the year, the official said.
Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause K. Kathirmathiyon has said in a release that some of these works were long-pending demands of the city. He appealed to the State Government to consider flyovers at 10 locations in the city as railway gates hindered traffic flow.
