The State Highways Department is set to call for tenders for the construction of the new road over bridge (ROB) across the Railway track at Periyar Nagar on the Thiruvanaikovil Trunk Road in the city next month.
The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, a public sector undertaking, will construct the Railway portion of the proposed ROB. The public sector undertaking will undertake the task as it is currently executing the track doubling work on the Villupuram-Dindigul section and the railway crossing forms part of the section, sources in the State Highways Department told The Hindu . Normally, the Railways takes up the responsibility of building the portion of ROBs on its land under projects taken up with the Highways Department.
The new four-lane ROB will replace the existing narrow two-lane bridge that has turned a major traffic bottleneck in Srirangam in recent years. Commuters have been facing an ordeal everyday owing to the frequent traffic snarls on the road. Traffic hold ups often occur on the weak and narrow bridge over the railway track at Periyar Nagar.
Highways Department sources also indicated that the tender for the new bridge will be called next month as the estimates have been readied and sent for approval. The State government has already accorded administrative sanction for the new bridge at an estimated cost of Rs.43 crore. Indications are that the project cost could be higher given the rise in land cost. However, only a limited area is to be acquired for the project as a substantial portion of the required lands are government held. The land plan schedule for the ROB has already been submitted to the government to be forwarded to the government for approval.
The Highways Department is now planning to take up the construction of a subway first at the project site so as to ensure that vehicles passing through the busy road could be the diverted through it. “We have decided to raise the height of subway to nearly four metres against the normal height of 2.5 metres so that even buses can be operated through it,” said an officer of the department.
This means that the department will not have to wait for the completion of the ROB currently under construction on the Oyamari Road along the Cauvery bank as originally felt.
