The work on the high-level bridge across Cooum river near S.A. Engineering College in Thiruverkadu on Avadi – Poonamallee High Road (SH-55) is entering the final stretch. The decades-old bridge collapsed in the 2015 floods cutting off many big neighbourhoods, including Thiruverkadu, Poonamallee, Avadi, Thirunindravur, Pattabiram and Tiruvallur from the rest of Chennai.
The bridge is high up on the list of much-awaited projects, as the five-kilometre-long stretch is the shortest route for goods-laden lorries and other container trucks from the industrial units in Irungattukottai, Sriperumbudur, Oragadam on Chennai – Bangalore Highway (NH-04) to reach the Kolkata Highway (NH-05) via the Chennai – Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road. Many residential apartment complexes are being constructed on the stretch due to affordable housing and lower pollution levels.
“The early completion of the bridge would likely clear the traffic chaos at the temporary carriageway near the under-construction bridge,” says V. Ramesh, a motorist from Thiruver0kadu.
At present, motorists use the temporary carriageway near the under-construction bridge across the river. The pathway does not have street lights, sidewalls, reflectors and warning signboards. Motorists have to take a narrow bend from the pathway to reach the main carriageway once they cross the river.
As per the project plan, the new two-lane bridge work has been taken up under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP) by the Tiruvallur division of the State Highways Department at a cost of around ₹ 5 crore.
Initially, the work was proceeding at a fast clip; bunds were created to block the flow of water on the Cooum river. Huge concrete cement pipes were used to allow the river water to flow slowly across the low-level bridge. An alternative pathway was created across the river to divert the existing traffic. “The entire bridge work will be completed in the next few months,” says a State Highways official.
