The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon execute remedial measures to curb road accidents and fatalities at select locations identified as black spots along Tiruchi–Dindigul National Highway (NH 45B).
NHAI has signed an agreement with an agency, which has been entrusted with the task of executing a slew of remedial measures as suggested by a team of road safety experts. It has identified six ‘black spots’ along the national highway where the works are to be carried out at a cost exceeding ₹5 crore.
All the six blackspot locations - Chathirapatti, Navalurkuttapattu, Vannankoil, Karattupatti, Seshalur and Vaiyampatti – fall under the revenue district of Tiruchi. The Tiruchi – Dindigul section runs to a little over 85 kilometres of which 59 kilometres fall under the jurisdiction of Tiruchi revenue district.
Recurring instances of road accidents along the Tiruchi – Dindigul stretch necessitated the NHAI to identify the highly accident-prone black spot locations along the section. Consequently, the six locations were chosen as the accidents in these spots were frequent in order to carry out remedial measures with a view to curbing fatalities, said a senior NHAI official.
A road safety experts team from the Union Ministry of Surface Transport inspected the Tiruchi - Dindigul highway stretch and offered a slew of suggestions based on which the remedial measures are to be executed, the official said.
Bulk of the funds sanctioned for the proposed remedial measures is to be spent at Vaiyampatti with the amount exceeding ₹3.3 crore alone at that location.
NHAI has identified specific type of works to be executed in each of the six black spot locations identified by it. Provision of service roads on both sides of main carriageway; providing pedestrian crossing with wide refuge space; provision of high mast light and reflective stickers on edges and lanes to improve night time visibility so as to reduce accidents and providing staggered type junction are among the slew of measures to be executed at the chosen locations, says the NHAI official.
In addition to these, it has also proposed to provide median opening for access to government hospital at Vaiyampatti – one of the chosen black spot location. With the agreement having been signed between the NHAI and the agency, the remedial measures would commence soon and expected to be completed in three months time, said the official. Passenger and freight movements has witnessed a steady rise on the Tiruchi – Dindigul highway stretch.
NHAI has already commenced execution of remedial measures along the busy Tiruchi-Madurai NH stretch at five black spot locations including Soriyampatti, Alundoor and Kallamedu.
