The Chennai Corporation will ask the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board to provide alternative accommodation to 30 families who have encroached upon the land adjoining the proposed four-lane bridge to connect the Indira Nagar 2nd Avenue and Rajiv Gandhi Salai over the Buckingham Canal.
Inspecting the piling work on Monday, Mayor M. Subramanian said, “the encroachments will be removed soon.” The pile load test would be completed shortly, added an official of the Chennai Corporation.
The civic body has already collected details, including ration cards of the 30 families. Over 10 structures have been identified for demolition to facilitate an optimum utility of the bridge, the official added.
The facility, to be constructed at a cost of Rs.3.12 crore, would be 19.2-metre long and 19.8-metre wide.
It would have 1.5-metre-wide footpaths on both sides. The bridge, to be completed in December, is being built in place of an old iron pedestrian bridge that collapsed last year after a lorry went over it.
On commissioning, the new bridge would cut travel time for vehicles on Rajiv Gandhi Salai bound for Besant Nagar and Adyar. It would also help ease traffic congestion at the Thiruvanmiyur and Madhya Kailash junctions.
