Chennai: Good news for motorists suffering traffic snarls in Chennai. Two bridges constructed to decongest Vadapalani along Inner Ring Road (IRR) and Anna Arch (near Aminjikarai) along with metro rail extension connecting Chennai airport are likely to be opened before October civic polls by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, state officials said.
According to sources, the bridge work was delayed for more than six months and the revised deadline was fixed for early February 2017. Now with the works gain-ing pace, officials are racing against time so that the '69.43 crore project can be completed ahead of civic polls.
The highways minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, also informed the Assembly last week that the balance bridge work at the intersection of Nelson Manickam Road and Anna Nagar 3rd Avenue on Periyar EVR Salai taken up at a cost of Rs.117 Crore is in progress and the second phase of the project is likely to be completed in two months.
And another major relief for commuters will the pending bridge work at Porur at the intersection of Mount — Poonamallee road with Kodambakkam — Sriperumbudur road at a cost of Rs 54 crore.
The work scheduled for this project is now revised and scheduled for completion before November 2016, sources said. These structures will remove bottlenecks on arterial EVR Periyar Salai, Anna Salai and Inner Ring road and will increase peak hour traffic flow. Civic authorities have been told to coordinate with the State highways so that logistics support is provided during the inaugural of these structures, a corporation engineer said. “We have cleared encroachments in the areas where state highways have taken up projects and the corporation bridges department is also working on a few detailed projects for the bridges that were announced in the civic budget”, the official added.
