While the bypass road constructed by the NHAI from Asoor, linking Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway and Pudukottai Highway at Mathur, is in good use, the subsequent phase of work to extend the bypass link to Panjapur on the Madurai Highway is progressing slowly.
The bypass road from Asoor to Mathur is of much help for movement of heavy vehicles, especially lorries from BHEL and its ancillaries in Thuvakudi area to Pudukottai district.
The ancillaries in Mathur are also able to have a hassle-free road connectivity to BHEL.
Extension of the 10-metre two-lane road with paved shoulders till Panjapur is much anticipated, since the need for vehicles from Thanjavur and delta districts proceeding to Southern districts to enter Tiruchi city will be obviated.
A senior NHAI official said the land acquisition process has been completed for laying the Mathur-Panjapur stretch and that one segment of the stretch has been laid from Kumaramangalam railway gate to the road linking K.K. Nagar. The NHAI has prevailed upon the concessionaire to expedite the process, it is learnt.
The by-pass road up to Panjapur, sources said, was originally planned to be over by 2014-15.
Once this section of the bypass is laid, it would form part of a semi-ring road as the NHAI would also lay a new bypass between Panchapur on the Tiruchi-Madurai Highway and Jeeyapuram on the Tiruchi-Karur Highway.
The NHAI had sought environmental clearance for a revised alignment of this road stretch from the Union Ministry of Environment as the original alignment, running across irrigation tanks, ran into opposition from farmers.
