The highways department on Saturday night commenced work to install a 39.53-mt-long box culvert on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai near the Central Institute of Plastics junction.
The Rs. 65-lakh work was taken up to prevent flooding during the monsoon.
Two earth movers cut across the road and pre-cast concrete boxes were placed inside the trench. “We hope to finish the work on this side of the road by 4 a.m. The other side will be taken up on Sunday night. A total of 26 such boxes would be placed,” said a source in the department.
Traffic on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai was diverted on a stretch of about 100 metres near the junction. Vehicles coming from Vadapalani and beyond used the lanes on the other side to reach the Kathipara grade separator.
“A huge volume of water from Ambal Nagar, Ekkattuthangal and from inside the eastern side of the Guindy Industrial estate flows onto the arterial road, leading to traffic jams during monsoon. We want to prevent that,” said a source.
M. Krishnan, who works in the estate, said a few days ago when it had rained for an hour, there was heavy water logging inside the estate. “There was nearly knee-deep water and all the interior roads were filled with water. The 100 feet road also got heavily flooded,” he said.
Meanwhile, the department is also taking steps to study water stagnation and construct drains at locations where stormwater drains have been broken due to Metro Rail work on Anna Salai, Poonamallee High Road and J.N. Salai. “This is to ensure that there is no water logging on these roads during monsoon,” said a source.
