After progressing in fits and starts in the past five years, work on the Anna Nagar link road has reached the finishing stage.
Once completed, the road will link the Anna Nagar Main Road and the Lawsons Road Junction near the MGR statue in Cantonment in the city. Work on the bridge across the Uyyakondan river has almost been completed and currently work is under way on laying approach roads on both sides.
The road was initially sanctioned at an estimate of Rs. 4.38 crore, which included a grant of Rs. 1.20 crore from Seed Capital Assistance Scheme of Department of Town and Country Planning.
Subsequently, the corporation council had approved plans to strengthen the Anna Nagar Main Road and link it up with the new bridge at a cost of Rs. 75 lakh. Construction of retaining walls along the approach road and storm-water drain on the Anna Nagar Main Road side, at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh, was incorporated.
A question mark had risen over the project as it encountered prolonged breaks over the past five years after the corporation began the work in 2009. A dithering contractor and a design change caused enormous delays in the project. Over the past three years, the corporation has been trying to expedite the project. Yet it made progress and at one stage there were even calls from councillors to cancel the contract.
According to corporation sources, the work has now reached the final stages and the road would be thrown open for traffic soon. “We were keen on opening up the road for traffic by June 1. But the rain had caused some delay. We definitely want to open up the road within the next 10 to 15 days,” a corporation official said.
Currently work is under progress on building a drain near the MGR statue. Once the work was completed, the approach roads would be blacktopped, he said. Some allied works would be taken up after opening the road for traffic.
“Our priority is to open the road first so as to ease the congestion on Pattabiraman Pillai Road where storm water drains are being re-constructed now,” the officer said.
