The Highways Department has decided to complete the construction of the Radha Nagar subway in Chromepet and allow it to be a limited use facility. It has thus acceded to the demand of one section of residents who live on Radha Nagar Main Road, which is a thickly populated market area.
Though the Railways had completed construction of the cement concrete box portion of the subway in the first half of 2012, residents’ protests had stalled the project and the subway was not connected to either side.
The Radha Nagar Main Road connects several residential areas in Chromepet to the GST Road. A limited-use subway will allow pedestrians and two-wheelers and even autorickshaws. The box portion is 30-metre long, 2.5 metres wide and 5 metres high.
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“We have waited enough for the residents to decide. The department wants to settle the issue amicably. We will soon call for a meeting with those objecting to the proposal of a vehicular subway,” said a source in the department. Work to connect the subway on either side will take three months and the subway is most likely to be opened for traffic by mid-2014. Bigger vehicles will be diverted to the adjacent railway gate, he added.
A. Anandhi, resident of Nehru Nagar in Chromepet, said that a subway that allows two-wheeler traffic would be of much use in that area. “Cars and other vehicles can use other options including the flyover on the Pallavaram- Thoraipakkam radial road. If pedestrians and smaller vehicles are allowed into this subway, it will prevent traffic jams on the road as the railway gate is closed quite often,” she said.