The highways department has begun work to re-lay portions of Anna Salai where the surface has been damaged due to wear-and-tear.
The Rs. 7-crore work is being carried out on four stretches and since heavy vehicles are not allowed inside the city during the day, the re-laying is being done during the nights.
Sources in the department said a total of eight km of road on either side is being relaid and footpaths are being repaired and formed wherever necessary. “On some stretches, like the one from the Officers Training Academy to the airport, the footpath is being formed afresh. Since tiles get damaged, granite is being used. The new footpaths are being laid at a cost of Rs. 1 crore,” he said.
The road is also being relaid under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme on three stretches — Muthusamy bridge to Periyar Bridge, Thousand Lights to DMS, and OTA to airport. The road surface over 3.5 km of the Kathipara grade separator and its service lanes too are being relaid.
The surface on the grade separator would be cold milled (scrapped) and relaid to avoid increasing the load on the structure. On Anna Salai, however, the re-laying would add another 5-6 inches to the road’s height.
Recently, several stretches of the road were relaid using funds received from Chennai Metro Rail Limited as well as under the special repairs programme (SRP). Another 1.5 km of road from the CIT Nagar junction to the Saidapet bridge will soon be relaid under the programme at a cost of Rs. 2 crore. Only last week, work to renew 1 km of road surface under SRP was completed.
Last month, the road surface on the Gemini bridge and its service lanes, and the Guindy bridge were renewed. Work to renew the 4.4-km stretch from Little Mount to OTA was also taken up at a cost of Rs. 20 crore.
Anna Salai and Grand Southern Trunk Road from the Muthusamy Bridge to the Irubuliyur junction cover a distance of 28 km and are under the control of the City Roads Division.
