The Highways Department will soon begin work to widen the stretch of Thoraipakkam Radial Road from Pallavaram to Keelkattalai at a cost of ₹35 crore. The existing four lanes would be expanded to six with service lanes and would help in reducing traffic snarls on the road.
“When the road was formed there was not much local traffic but only vehicles taking it to reach the GST Road and beyond. Traffic on the road increases by 10% annually. Now, a lot of development has taken place alongside the road. Taking into consideration the pedestrians and motorists travelling shorter distances, service lanes are being formed on this 4.5-km stretch,” explained a Highways Department official.
Pipe culverts
As part of the work that is likely to be finished in less than two years, pipe culverts that carry stormwater across the road would be changed to box culverts with larger capacities at a cost of ₹7 crore. It will take time to construct the additional lanes since quite a lot of earth is required as a depth of 3-6 m needs to be filled. However, no land acquisition would be required, as the road has a width of 200 ft. The road, laid in 2011, would also get a fresh top layer. K. Mohan, a resident of Thoraipakkam, said the 1.5-km stretch from the toll plaza to Kamakshi Hospital junction too needs to be widened. “It also needs service lanes as people looking at birds and the marshland park their vehicles alongside. In the evenings, traffic moves at a snail’s pace,” he said.
