Motorists using Prakasam Salai (Broadway Road) were taken aback after a small portion of the stretch caved in on Wednesday.
The cave-in occurred near the junction of Pedariyar Koil Lane and Prakasam Salai in the afternoon and resulted in a mild disruption of traffic.
The traffic police personnel at the signal on the Ibrahim Salai-Prakasam Road junction immediately took steps to manage vehicular movement with the help of personnel of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited.
R. Hafiz, who runs a tea shop on the road, said that the cave-in occurred around 3.30 p.m. when there was not much of traffic on the road.
A traffic police officer said the motorists and pedestrians saw the road caving in slightly at the junction and within a few minutes, it was closed with concrete-mixed sand.
Chennai Corporation officials had given an assurance that the stretch will be paved with concrete at night, he added.
The Prakasam Road, connecting Ibrahim Salai with NSC Bose Road, is an important link road, where underground Metro work was completed a few months ago.
Metro Rail officials said the cave-in had nothing to do with their work.
