Tamil Nadu

Medavakkam Main Road work begins

Photo : K. Manikandan

Work to widen Medavakkam Main Road in progress. —

TAMBARAM: Work on the long pending and much needed widening and improvement works on Medavakkam Main Road, an important arterial road in the southern suburbs of Chennai, has commenced and is expected to completed by the end of 2009.

The 9-km-long road (called Mount-Madipakkam Road in official parlance of the State Highways Department) connects St.Thomas Mount railway station with Velachery Main Road at Medavakkam. A phenomenal growth in traffic owing to the mushrooming of several residential localities along the urban and rural local bodies on this stretch had necessitated improvement works on the arterial road.

With some of the densely populated localities of Pallavaram, Alandur and Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam Municipalities and Madipakkam and Medavakkam village panchayats being close to this road, there was pressure from various groups, including citizens’ groups and youth organisations, to carry out improvement works to ease congestion.

The underground drainage project on this road within the limits of Pallavaram Municipality for about two km had reduced this arterial highway into a stretch of potholes, forcing residents and youth organisations to stage demonstrations. During monsoon, travelling on this stretch between Medavakkam and St. Thomas Mount, especially from Keelkattalai to Madipakkam is a nightmare. Even during peak hours now, it takes a precious amount of time to negotiate this stretch.

Several rounds of inspections were carried out and tenders floated but the work never commenced. However, all the hassles were sorted out recently and work on widening the entire stretch of the road was taken up under a scheme of Chennai Metropolitan Development Plan of the State Highways Department.

Officials told The Hindu that a sum of about Rs. 16 crore has been alloted for the project. The existing two-lane (about 7 metres) would be converted as a four-lane highway (about 16 metres) from Medavakkam and St. Thomas Mount Railway Station. To be funded entirely by the State government, the improvement works include construction of permanent raised medians, strengthening of shoulders and provision of stormwater drains.

The department was still surveying the extent of encroachments that had to be cleared and the area of land that needed to be acquired for the project. The sanctioned amount of Rs.16 crore was allotted only for civil (road laying and provision of other utilities) works, officials added.

Another important component of the project was shifting of utilities, including transformers of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, telephone cables and water pipelines. The Highways Department was currently engaged in discussions with the government agencies concerned, officials said. They hoped to complete the entire project in 15 months. Once completed, it would benefit people travelling by government buses and private vehicles and also ease congestion on Grand Southern Trunk Road and Velachery Main Road, the other arterial roads running parallel to this road.

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