Chennai flyover projects on slow track

Chennai: City police commissioner Karan Singha on his first day of office assured that the capital city will breathe easy from traffic snarls and bottlenecks. But making Chennai a traffic free city has been a Herculean task thanks to the government departments ducking on the bridge works for years.

Six flyovers taken up by state highways and the Chennai corporation in suburban areas have been progressing at snail's pace, forcing motorists to suffer traffic snarls for the last three years. "Delay in Porur flyover construction was even raised at the state assembly floor and the failure to connect the north and south Usman road bridge in T Nagar was also discussed in detail, but no positive approach from state till date", says former Chennai mayor and Saidapet MLA M Subramanian. The situation with state highways is even worse.

The elevated Maduravoyal corridor project stalled by the government is an eyesore and could have eliminated bottlenecks along the arterial Poonamallee high road, he added.

"It is a fact that babus and contractors are sleeping over bridge works. Take for example the Annanur railway level crossing bridge pending for more than two years. Despite fatal accidents being reported at level crossings, the state is yet to complete the project," rues G Kavitha, advocate, Madras high court advocate and a local resident.

However, a state official informed that the during the last five years Chennai corporation has completed construction of five new road overbridges, 10 minor bridges, three subways and improvements to the existing flyover or bridges in various locations.