Residents and industrial unit holders soon may not have to vie for space and risk accidents to cross the narrow causeway linking Dairy Road in Ambattur Industrial Estate and Padi. The Water Resources Department plans to construct a bridge across the Korattur channel to put an end to the daily ordeal of many.
The bridge would replace the single-lane causeway, which is only 5.3 metre wide and 26 metre long. Officials of the WRD said the project to widen the facility was taken up as it has witnessed a two-fold increase in traffic volume over the past few years.
“We are planning to build a 45 metre long two-lane bridge. A revised estimate is being prepared as the industrial unit holders have asked for further widening of the bridge,” said an official.
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The Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association want the WRD to increase the width from 12 metre proposed by the department to 15 metre to provide an additional lane, the official added. As a result, the project cost would escalate from Rs.75 lakh estimated for the two-lane facility.
G.Rangan, a resident of Korattur, said: “Motorists often face the risk of accidents while vying for space on the causeway. Two vehicles had fallen into the channel a few months ago as there is inadequate illumination.”
According to members of the AIEMA, nearly 5,000 vehicles, including lorries to Aavin Dairy and industrial units and MTC buses, use the road daily. Motorists entering the estate from the elevated corridor take the Dairy Road to avoid the congested Chennai Tiruvallur High Road.
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Dilip Kumbhat, Chairman of Chennai Auto Ancillary Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Company (CAAIIUC), said: “We want to develop the Dairy Road in north phase of the estate on a par with South Avenue Road in south phase. There are plans to relay the road and make it 15 metre wide. We have agreed to incur the additional expenditure towards widening of the bridge.”
Officials of the WRD said the work would be taken up in two or three months and completed within a year. However, shifting of underground electricity cables in the channel poses a challenge.
The channel is also being widened from 6 metre to 11 metre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Meanwhile, residents of Korattur complained of water logging because of poor maintenance of the 4.6 km surplus course between water bodies in Ambattur and Korattur.
On the slow progress of work to desilt and widen the surplus course, officials said they were able to complete only 10 per cent of the project so far because of delay in shifting utility lines and rainfall. Measures would soon be taken to remove encroachments and construct flood protection wall. The project is estimated to be completed by July next year.