Renovation works, aimed at smooth flow of vehicles at the railway underpass near the Railway Colony on Erode – Palani road, commenced at a cost of ₹50 lakh here.
The underpass connecting Kalaimadu Silai and Kollampalayam was constructed 20 years ago and water logging at the underpass continues to be a perennial issue in all these years. The State Highways Department proposed to carry out renovation works and works commenced on June 19.
Officials said work began to remove concrete floors on both the approach roads with the help of an earthmover and a digger machine. Also, due to poor seepage disposal mechanism at the subway, water continues to stagnate damaging the concrete structure. Hence, silt deposits in the drains would be removed, they added.
Officials are in the process of removing unwanted pipelines and footpaths on both the side of the subway after which the road width available for vehicle movement would increase from the present nine metre to 10 metre. All the works are expected to be completed within two months, officials added.
Traffic diversion was in place and movement of heavy vehicles was completely restricted while buses were allowed to use the subway from Kalaimadu Silai to Lotus Roundabout. Four-wheelers, three-wheelers and two-wheelers were allowed to use the old subway in both directions. The stretch witnesses traffic congestion both in the morning and evening hours as vehicles get piled up due to diversion of vehicles.
Sources in the department said that a proposal to establish another subway at 5.5 metre high and 7 metre width is in progress and work has begun to prepare a detailed project report for the same. A consultation meeting was held recently in which the District Collector, officials from Salem Railway Division, State Highways Department and a few other departments met at the Collectorate to discuss the proposal.
