Construction of the 1.53-km, three-lane uni-directional flyover at Pallavaram on the GST Road, which has caused enough traffic snarls and stressed out motorists, is likely to be completed by this year-end.
Of the 47 deck slabs, 37 have been constructed and work on six is under progress. Of the four obligatory spans that come up over junctions, two — English Electricals and Old Sandhai Road — have been completed. One is under progress at Pammal junction, said officials in the Highways Department.
Simultaneously, work on the approach ramp on the Chennai side has commenced and would take up to four months to be completed. “Next week, we are commencing the ramp on the other side. Since the approaches require earth work and it needs to settle, it takes time,” an official explained.
The ₹82.66-crore facility will allow vehicles from the Tambaram side to proceed to the airport. The department has finally been able to speed up the work after several hurdles.
It has asked the contractor to complete the construction based on a new schedule. “We have had issues pertaining to availability of land and sand for construction. For sometime, we had no sand. The road witnesses a huge volume of traffic and diverting it was not an easy task. Though we improved the Old Trunk Road and Old Sandhai Road, proper traffic diversion could be done only some six months ago. This was possible only after repeated attempts by the police,” said an official.
Motorists complain
The construction has only been a headache for motorists using the stretch. S. Kannan, who travels frequently on the GST Road to Tambaram, said that after traffic diversions have been put into place, vehicular movement has improved quite a bit. “We still move slowly during peak hours. I shudder to think how we used to struggle to cross the stretch. There have been times when friends have nearly missed flights due to the traffic snarls in that one km stretch. We can only hope that the work will get over soon,” he said.
