The Highways Department has been waiting for nearly a year now for the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) to agree to hand over 0.8 acre of land belonging to it for the formation of a service lane adjacent to the ongoing flyover at Vyasarpadi.
Over 60 per cent of the work on the 1,720 metre-long Rs. 88.65-crore facility — to replace the existing Vyasarpadi subway notorious for the long row of trucks that frequently line up beneath it — has been completed. The four-lane ‘Y'-shaped flyover, which starts at Basin Bridge Road, splits into two-lanes on each side — one reaching Erukkancheri High Road and the other Sathyamurthy Nagar Main Road near Kalyanapuram.
“Two months ago the TANGEDCO wrote to us saying that their compound wall and a duct for cables should be constructed. We have agreed to these conditions as we need land for the service lane and a drain. Without the land being formally handed over to us, we have had problems with power cables being cut several times. The Highways has borne the cost for the repairs also,” said sources in the Highways Department.
Official sources in TANGEDCO said the request from the Highways would be processed and suitable action taken as soon as possible.
One-way
While work on construction of pillars has been completed and deck slab work is in progress on Basin Bridge Road, service lanes have been blacktopped and opened for traffic on the Kalyanapuram side. On the Erukkanchery High Road side, only a few pillars have been constructed.
“To facilitate work on that side, we have requested the traffic police not to allow on a 200-m-stretch of Erukkanchery High Road and introduce a temporary one-way for smooth flow of traffic. The police will study our proposal and also suggest spots to instal signage,” the source said.
Work on construction of the flyover began on March 27, 2010. Though the deadline is March 26, 2013, the sources said they were planning on completing it ahead of schedule. It is expected to be completed by December this year. The Southern Railway, whose contribution would be around Rs.8 crore of the total project cost of Rs.88.65 crore, has already commenced its work.
N. Umapathy, a resident of Vyasarpadi, said that as the vertical clearance in the subway was not much, heavy vehicles often get stuck inside. When trucks get stuck in the subway, traffic comes to a grinding halt and motorists are forced to take a detour via Ganesapuram or Perambur. “If flyover is constructed ahead of the monsoon, it would help residents in our thickly-populated area avoid the Ganesapuram subway that gets inundated and has at least hip deep water during rains,” he said.
