Work on laying service roads at Viralimalai has been in full swing and will be completed within a couple of months.
The work was taken up following a survey which indicated a rise in the volume of vehicles in the recent years. The service road links the Viralimalai town with a bridge on the Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway.
The old road measuring seven metres in width and is being widened up to 15 metres – nearly double the existing dimension. Expansion had been taken up with four metres on each side.
An official survey taken up by the Highways Department indicated that the peak hour traffic had touched up to 19,000 passenger car units (pcu) and is likely to increase up to 25,000 pcu in a few years. The upgrade of the Viralimalai village panchayat into the status of taluk headquarters and the construction of a bus stand in the vicinity of the bridge have all gone to increase in the volume of traffic in Viralimalai town.
Once the work on widening was completed, medians would be set up as part of ensuring safety to the road users and heavy vehicles.
The length of the road, officially called ‘abandoned Viralimalai urban stretch’ is 3.5 km of which widening had been taken up to a length of 2.35 km to cater to the needs of vehicles coming from and proceeding towards the bridge on its either sides.
