Chennai Corporation will start work on the widening of eight roads after the process of land acquisition for the facilities.
“The narrowest portions of LB Road, Sardar Patel Road, Santhome High Road, Paper Mills Road, Kodambakkam Salai, NSK Salai, Nelson Manickam Road and Kaliamman Koil Street are likely to be more than 22 metres wide after the expansion. Some stretches will even be more than 27 metres wide,” said an official.
Acquisition of land will be carried out in all the eight stretches. Following the preparation of land plan schedule, the district collectorate is likely to appoint a special officer for the land acquisition process along some of the eight roads. Widening of roads will be carried out without affecting heritage buildings on the stretches.
Chennai Corporation is widening the roads based on a report of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to do so to meet the needs of motorists using the stretches. “The CMDA had already prepared the land plan schedule for stretches such as Kaliamman Koil Street in 2003. The widening of the road is expected to tackle heavy traffic caused by the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and the proposed Metro rail network,” the official added.
“We can reap the benefits of some of the existing flyovers and proposed flyovers only by widening the roads. A wider Paper Mills Road will ease congestion in most neighbourhoods of Perambur and Kolathur. The number of vehicles using Perambur flyover will increase after the widening of the stretch,” said S. Santhanam, former member-chief urban planner, CMDA. The widening of Nelson Manickam Road has been necessitated by the proposed flyover on the road and the construction of a number of multi-storied commercial buildings.
“LB Road has become a market centre with a large number of multi-storied buildings. Traders who are in violation may get affected but such roads require widening to cope with rising traffic,” said Mr. Santhanam.
