With work on one arm of the ‘Y’ shaped flyover almost over, commuters are now hoping they will soon get to drive hassle-free to Vysarpadi.
The ramp on the Satyamurthy (SM) Nagar portion will be opened for traffic soon as the Southern Railway has completed its portion of the work on the railway track.
Earlier, it was said work on the railway tracks would be completed by the end of 2014.
The flyover is a dream facility for residents of the neighbourhood. Like the flyover at Rangarajapuram in T.Nagar, this Rs 88.68 crore flyover is a ‘Y’-shaped four-lane facility. It takes off on Basin Bridge Road and divides into two lanes on each side — one reaching Erukkancheri High Road and the other Sathyamurthy Nagar Main Road near Kalyanapuram. The ramp on the Erukkancheri High Road connects the northern part of the city to NH5, which is also known as Kolkata highway.
“The vehicular subway that is currently in use is the shortest route to all major areas in north Chennai. But the narrow subway has added to the chaos all these years,” said C. Vasantha, a resident of Perambur.
The inadequacy of the subway to meet the traffic demands has necessitated the flyover project.
The flyover is 1,720 metres long and 17.2 metres wide (capable of accommodating two buses at a time). Besides, it will have around 150 street lights including four high-mast lights, a stormwater drain and staircases for pedestrians to access the subway.
“Apart from enabling easy movement of heavy vehicles from neighbouring states, the flyover will ease the pressure on other important stretches in the neighbourhood that have high traffic flow,” said a state highway official.
At present, on an average, around one lakh vehicles including MTC buses, trucks, two-wheelers and cars use the subway every day.
Whenever a vehicle breaks down on the subway, a traffic snarl lasting hours ensues on the route. As many schools, hospitals, offices and trading houses are located on the other side of the subway, residents in areas like Tondiarpet, Tiruvottiyur, MKB Nagar, Kodungaiyur and Ennore have to use the subway.
Originally, the under-construction flyover was sanctioned under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Programme (CMDP) along with other flyover projects at Moolakadai, Porur, Thirumangalam and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar in 2006.
As the project involved work on connecting the ramps over the railway tracks, the Southern Railway was roped in. Subsequently, the project was taken up under the Railways Works scheme by the highways on a 50-50 cost-sharing basis by the two government agencies.
The work started only in March 2010 and land of around 1.4 lakh sq ft was acquired only in June, 2012. All these factors delayed the completion of the project.
