Multiple wings of the State Highways Department would be taking up improvement works on a crucial road leading to Sholinganallur on Rajiv Gandhi Salai.
Perumbakkam Main Road connects Medavakkam and Sholinganallur through Perumbakkam and hence the name. Many years ago, it was a sleepy stretch with very few vehicles, including Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses, passing through it.
With the rapid growth in the software sector and the accompanying development in the realty sector, traffic flow on this road increased phenomenally from Tambaram and Pallikaranai directions. The introduction of MTC's T 51 service from East Tambaram to Thiruvanmiyur, which incidentally happens to be the most-operated service, is a pointer to this fact.
With both Velachery Main Road and Perumbakkam Main Road being narrow around Medavakkam, residents and motorists had been urging the State government to take up improvement and widening works. Some years ago, residents of Perumbakkam and Medavakkam squatted in protest against the frequent accidents. While Velachery Main Road between East Tambaram and Medavakkam was widened more than a decade ago, it was not until three years ago that the government sanctioned widening of Perumbakkam Main Road.
A sum of about Rs.6 crore was spent under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Plan to widen Perumbakkam Main Road between Medavakkam and Sholinganallur, a distance of 4.5 km. A huge chunk of the amount was spent on land acquisition. Raised medians were built and pavements provided around Medavakkam intersection. Culverts (minor bridges) across the road at a few places were also constructed subsequently.
Now, the road, classified under Other District Road, has been damaged at many places, especially near Medavakkam intersection, Perumbakkam bus stop and also near Sholinganallur signal, causing inconvenience to motorists. Officials of the State Highways Department said that the margins of the road were dug up for laying pipelines to transport drinking water from the Desalination Plant, now under construction by the government at Vadanemmeli near Mamallapuram.
They said both CMDP and Highways (General) were attending to the problem. They recalled that due to certain problems over land acquisition, the road could not be widened at a few spots. Repair works would be completed, the officials said, assuring the motorists of a “smoother ride” at the earliest.
