The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would soon begin work on building service lanes across minor bridges along the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass Road and an underpass at the accident-prone Kondayampettai/ Sanjeevi Nagar traffic intersection on the road.
This was disclosed by Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan while addressing a workshop on Road Safety in the city on Tuesday.
The move would meet the long pending demand of city residents. Construction of seven minor bridges in four locations to ensure continuous service road and a vehicular underpass near Kondayampettai connecting Kallanai Road from Srirangam on the Tiruchi-Chennai By-pass Road has been approved at a cost of about ₹31 crore, Mr. Radhakrishnan said. “The execution of the works will be start soon,” he said.
Apart from this, construction of service road on the left side of the Tiruchi-Chennai National Highway at Samayapuram, providing easy connectivity from Chennai to Samayapuram Temple road, and from Samayapuram to Tiruchi, at an estimated cost of ₹12 crore, is under consideration, he said.
The Kondayampettai intersection has been witnessing accidents frequently, ever since the bypass road was made a four lane highway by the National Highways Authority of India some years back.
A large number of vehicles, especially lorries and buses, cross the highway at the intersection from either side, creating chaos. The police have placed temporary barricades to slow down vehicles. Mr. Radhakrishnan had inspected the spot in April 2015.
Similarly, the lack of service lanes across minor bridges between Senthaneerpuram and the Cauvery bridge has been posing a threat to road users. Vehicles entering the highway from the city and those entering the city from the highway have to use the service lanes.
The absence of minor bridges has been leading to accidents. The situation was particularly bad near the Kumbakonathan Salai-Chennai Bypass Road intersection, Sanjeevi Nagar and Oyamari Road intersection. As the service lane does not run across minor bridges, vehicles are forced to use the main carriageway of the highway on both directions. Often, vehicles have to sneak across the main carriageway at these spots as speeding traffic moves in the opposite direction.
Welcoming the construction of service lanes and underpass, M. Sekaran, president, Federation of Consumer and Services Organisations, urged the Minister to expedite the construction works and complete it at the earliest.
Mr. Sekaran, who is also member of District Road Safety Council, also appealed to the Minister to take steps to ensure the construction of service roads along the city stretch of the Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway from Ariyamangalam to Thuvakudi. He also pleaded for the construction of a subway at G. Corner intersection along the Tiruchi – Chennai Bypass Road, by connecting the Senthaneerpuram and TVS Tollgate road over bridges and allowing traffic beneath the extended bridge.
