Work to raise the height of Sholinganallur-Medavakkam Road that connects areas including Tambaram, Perumbakkam and Pallikaranai to Rajiv Gandhi Salai, popularly known as the IT Corridor, is expected to be completed by July.
The Rs. 7.4 crore project was taken up by the highways department, after the road was covered under at least two feet of water and the flow of traffic was disrupted for about a week during the northeast monsoon in 2011. Between 7,000 and 10,000 vehicles use the road on any given day.
Under the project, the road is being padded up and its height will be increased by 2.5 feet to prevent water logging.
“The only way water drains out from the road is through the Okkiyam Madugu. But when that water body’s level increases, it takes a lot of time for the water from the road to drain. Though a big culvert had been constructed connecting the two sides of the road, when the Madugu is full, the culverts are also full,” said a source at the department.
The work has been taken up as part of the State government’s Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP). The height of the median has also been increased and it now stands at 3.75 feet.
V. Kausalya, a resident of Karapakkam, said that the road had been flooded only once and that too after hectic construction activity had taken place on both sides of the road.
“The road was built on marshy land and the construction activity has disrupted the free flow of water. The authorities must now ensure that there are no blocks in the canals that carry the flood waters to the sea,” she said.
