The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started short-term improvement work on the Inner Ring Road and the Manali Oil Refinery Road, two important roads in north Chennai, in view of the approaching monsoon.
According to official sources, an eight-km stretch of the IRR from the Madhavaram junction to the Manali MFL junction is being improved. Two layers of road are being laid over the existing road.
Median to be repaired
The median would be repaired and the open space being filled with gravel to prevent illegal parking of vehicles on it.
The roads would be marked and signboards installed as part of the work.
A total of Rs.8.57 crore is being spent on the work — Rs.6 crore on IRR and Rs.2.57 crore on MORR — and the work would be completed in September. According to 2008 statistics, a total of 8,500 trucks and 34,000 passenger car unit use each of these roads.
No lighting
Meanwhile, residents of Manali and Tiruvottiyur complained that there is no lighting on the road making it difficult to use the roads after sunset.
According to Ma. Ki. Ramanan, a resident of Tiruvottiyur, several accidents take place on Ennore Express Highway owing to the pot holes.
“It is dark and when big containers wait in queue, visibility is poor. The Tiruvottiyur High Road is in a bad state. The Highways Department has constructed a median on the road without completing the widening, which causes a lot of inconvenience to pedestrians as well as motorists,” he said.
