The newly built grade separator (fly-over) at the Palpannai traffic intersection in Ariyamangalam along the Tiruchi-Chennai By-Pass Road was opened for traffic on Wednesday night.
The opening of the fly-over, built as part of the four-lane project on the Tiruchi-Padalur section of the Tiruchi-Chennai National Highway, comes as a huge relief for motorists. The construction work at the crucial intersection has caused enormous traffic problems in the city for more than a year now.
Initially, site clearance and shifting of utilities, such as underground water mains, had slowed down the project. Traffic snarls, often holding up traffic for even up to an hour, had become the order of the day along the By-pass Road and the Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway owing to the construction work at the site. The National Highways Authority of India had taken up the responsibility of shifting a substantial portion of the underground water mains of the City Corporation at the construction site.
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The fly-over runs for a length of about 800 metres and has a width of 22 metres apart from a centre median of 1.5 metres.
All fly-overs and bridges have been built to accommodate six-lane traffic, to facilitate further expansion of the highways, as per the instruction given by the former Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways T.R. Baalu.
High mast lights have also been fitted.
Traffic island
A traffic island would be developed beneath the fly-over to regulate the traffic flow. Vehicles proceeding towards the Gandhi Market from the Thanjavur-Tiruchi Highway in the city could proceed beneath the fly-over. Service lanes have been provided on either flanks of fly-over. While the service lanes towards Tiruchi have been already been laid, those towards the Chennai side would be completed within the next four to five days, according to sources in Indu Navayuga Infra Projects, the project concessionaire.
TVS Tollgate Junction
Meanwhile, work is underway in full swing on the other fly-over coming up in the city under the project, at the TVS Tollgate Junction.
The fly-over is expected to be opened for traffic by the first week of April, marking the completion the four-laning on the entire 38.5 km long Tiruchi-Padalur section of the Tiruchi-Chennai National Highway.