Work to construct interchanges on the Outer Ring Road at Vandalur, Nemilichery and Nazarathpet began recently as part of the measures to ensure smooth flow of traffic at the intersections of ORR and three national highways.
According to sources in Tamil Nadu Road Development Company, the managing associate for development of ORR, the interchanges are expected to be completed by March 2013. The ongoing Phase-I development of the ORR – 30 km from Vandalur to Nemilichery – would be completed by November this year.
Interchanges are usually put up at road junctions and have a grade separator and ramps to permit traffic on the highway to pass through the junction without cutting across any other traffic stream.
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The interchange at Nazarethpet on NH 4 to Bangalore would be the biggest of the three proposed facilities and larger than any of the existing grade separators. “We have changed the design in such a manner that residential localities are not affected in any manner. Earlier, we needed 36 acres now we have brought it down to 25 acres,” said a source in TNRDC.
At Nemilichery on NH 205, the Chennai - Tiruvallur – Tirupati Road, 1.4 acres of land would be acquired.
Land acquistion
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On NH 45, at Vandalur, which is the road leading to Tiruchi, only 9.2 acres would be required. Lands belonging to various government departments and private persons would be acquired. “We have written to the State government asking it to acquire land for the project,” the source said.
Residents happy
R.Gunasakthi, a resident of D.S. Nagar in Vandalur, said that the interchange would come as a blessing for the road that witnesses a very high volume of traffic. “Traffic on the road is fast making it very difficult for pedestrians to cross the road. A subway near the Vandalur Zoo would be of immense help as the number of visitors to the zoo has increased,” she said.
Of the nearly 30 km ORR, 13.20 km has been completed and work is progressing on 7 km. The entire stretch has already been cleared. Work on three major bridges at Vandalur across Vandalur Eri, Thirumudivakkam across the Chembarambakkam supply channel, Amudur Medu across Cooum river is progressing. Work on construction of 16 out of 18 pedestrian under passes is complete and all the 8 vehicular under passes have been completed.