A delay in acquiring land for the proposed flyover has pushed project past deadline; may take another year
Construction of the elevated metro rail station in Vadapalani may be progressing swiftly, but the proposed flyover that will go right beneath it might take at least a year to materialise. A delay in acquisition of land has pushed the flyover project past deadline.
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The Arcot Road-Jawaharlal Nehru Salai junction at Vadapalani is one of the most dreaded traffic bottlenecks in the city. Well before the metro rail project began, the highways department had conceived of a flyover on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai to ease the congestion.
However, once the metro project began, the area was seen as an ideal spot for a station as well. The idea of integrating the facilities was born soon after, as experts from both, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) and Highways Department felt that a combined facility was more feasible in terms of design and cost.
While CMRL will build the via duct portion of the flyover, Highways Department is bearing the cost of its construction, estimated at Rs. 34 crore. “We have already paid CMRL one instalment of Rs. 30 crore,” said an official of the highways department.
While the revenue department was supposed to complete the process of land acquisition in three revenue villages — 2200 sq mt in Kodambakkam, 400 sq mt Puliyur and 400 sq mt in Vadapalani — by October 2011, but is still dragging on.
Challenges in land acquisition included convincing trustees of Vengeeswarar temple to part with a portion of the temple's land. Since they refused to part with a portion of their land, some design modifications had to be made to enable the project to move ahead, according a highways department official.
“Nearly 40 per cent of the piling work for the flyover is complete. We will get the land in a month and from then, the construction of the flyover will not take more than a year,” he said.
Some land belonging to the Vadapalani police station is also being acquired for the flyover. Once the flyover is constructed, motorists going to Arcot Road will be saved the trouble of taking a detour before the junction, and could instead take the main road till the junction and turn left into Arcot Road.
The flyover will be used mostly by buses plying to other towns and cities, while city buses will take a short detour to drop off and pick up passengers at the metro station, according to CMRL officials.
The integrated facility, which will look like a double-decker structure, seeks to minimise traffic jams, and also to enable easy access to the metro station. Design-wise this station will be unique, with the highest elevation along the stretch from Koyambedu to St. Thomas Mount. The Vadapalani metro station will be at a height of over 60 feet, while other elevated stations will be over 40 feet. Meanwhile, workers began laying the tracks for the station at midnight on Monday. “We did a pooja this evening and workers will start laying the tracks on concrete at midnight,” a CMRL official told The Hindu.
Keywords: Chennai Metro Rail Limited, CMRL, Vadapalani
The sooner this 'road bump' is cleared, the better. The state Government should intervene and speed up the land acquisition so that both the Metro and Flyover projects can proceed faster than planned. Chennai needs a lot more than this. All the citizens should support such infrastructural projects instead of acting like 'a doubting Thomas'. The problem with most flyovers is the design which should plan for 50 years ahead not whatever it should have been 50 years back. One should look at Global Cities to understand and see for themselves how such grand infrastructural projects have helped thise Cities. Only problem in the India is that not all the funds earmarked for the Projects are truly spent for the Project- more then half ends up in teh pockets of the powers that be. Once we are able to install watch dogs liek Lok Pal etc., we could be the next Asian Tiger.
The lack of a coherent policy on urban planning is the main culprit. That said, no matter how great our planning is, unless there is a policy with regard to population control, & migration of people to cities, a thousand flyovers can not solve traffic problems.
What are we doing to make sure that these networks are enough to support the population that is growing by leaps and bounds? Where is the policy to make sure new businesses are established, away from major cities? The nexus between corrupt government officials and real estate/ construction industry mafia is well known.
No amount of money or planning will solve issues of urban living unless we as a nation are able to rise above pettiness & corruption, and until we put the nation before ourselves.
Development works such as these should be thought of with a minimum 10-20
year vision, if not 50-100 years. That the TN govt has been able to do this so fast is commendable. A good transport network will help keep Chennai relevant for another 50-100 years. See the New York or London train and subway networks, built more than a hundred years ago and how well they serve the mass of the city.
It is indeed a tragedy & shame that this was not done earlier in Chennai - even with the shining example of the suburban railway system and the huge benefits it has given to middle class Chennai-ites.
vadapalani junction is one of the main stopping for the moffusil buses. as mentioned in the article, the moffusil buses have to take the flyover., it is not a good decision.. they have to make some solution else the fly over will become a traffic jam point..
Looking at the number of people and the distance it will transport people during peak hours, it makes me wonder if such a gargantuan task of building something is necessary. Hypothetically speaking, if the rail cars are full with all passengers travelling from Point A to end point B(the end point) at some specific point of time or service with nobody being able to use the metro between points A and B, is 13,000 crores worth the price or is it another 2G and when will that skeleton fall out?
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