Four arterial roads in the city, including Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road, will get a refurbished look, beginning with street furniture.
Signage, warning boards and reflectors will be installed at first, said highways department sources.
“The works will be taken up as part of a project to upgrade these roads to world-class facilities. Initially, Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Grand Northern Trunk Road will get attention. Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road will be taken up after Metro Rail works come to a close on these roads,” said a source.
The department is drawing up estimates for a number of installations including gantry boards that run across the roads, cantilever boards that cover one side, hazard markers that point out the ends of medians, and reflecting median markers.
“There are 54 traffic signals from which to choose for the gantry and cantilever boards. About 100 reflecting markers come up every kilometre. A total of 64 km is to be covered with these markers. Since they are not part of the median’s structure and can be removed with minimal effort, the reflectors get stolen very often,” added the source.
K. Govind, a resident of Virugambakkam who travels on Anna Salai on a regular basis, said that installation of reflectors on medians must be given priority in the works to be taken up.
“At night, due to improper lighting, the edge of the median is not visible in many places and this leads to motorists scrapping against the concrete structures, which is dangerous,” he said.