Chennai: Flyovers await inauguration as public suffer in traffic

Chennai: Three flyovers on busy junctions of Vadapalani, Anna Arch and Retteri awaits a date from the state government for inauguration even as motorists are continuing to face a lot of difficulties in crossing the traffic bottlenecks.

The work on the Vadapalani flyover at the intersection of Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Arcot Road, the second arm of the Anna Arch flyover connecting EVR Periyar Salai with Anna Nagar Third Avenue Road and one of the two unidirectional flyovers at Retteri junction on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai have been completed but not opened for traffic.

“The work on three flyovers is completed and only some miscellaneous works are pending. We have sent a report to the government on the completion of work on the flyovers. As and when the government decides on the date of inauguration, the flyovers will be thrown open for traffic,” a senior highway department official told DC.

Vadapalani flyover
The bi-directional Vadapalani flyover running parallel to the Chennai Metro rail viaduct would ease the traffic on the busy intersection. The vehicles plying from Vadapalani to Koyambedu and from Koyambedu to Vadapalani could use the flyovers to avoid the signal at the JN Road-Arcot Road intersection. The 600-meter long flyover was constructed at a cost of Rs 69 crore.

Even though the flyover project was mooted long back in 2005-06, the construction of the project was taken up in December 2014 after the completion of metro rail work. The metro rail constructed the viaduct portion of the flyover while the Highways Department undertook rest of the work including construction of the approach ramps.

Anna Arch flyover
The second arm of the Anna Arch flyover would further ease the traffic on the EVR Periyar Salai, Anna Nagar Third Avenue Road and Nelson Manickam Road once it is opened for traffic.

The vehicles entering Anna Nagar from Aminjikarai on EVR Salai would take the new flyover that takes off from the EVR Salai near the Nelson Manickam road and lands in Third Avenue Road, while one arm will loop back to EVR Road to allow the vehicles from NM Road that want to proceed towards Aminjikarai side. One arm of the flyover that begins from EVR Salai and lands in NM road, which was opened for traffic in March this year, helped ease movement of vehicles.

The overall objective of the Rs 117 crore project was to do away with two signals in NM Road- EVRP Road junction and Anna Arch junction. The signals at the NM Road-EVRP Road junction could be taken off, but the signals will be operated until the construction of the third flyover from Anna Nagar Third Avenue to EVR Road towards Arumbakkam.

Retteri flyover
The 1,025 metre long uni-directional flyovers built at a cost of Rs 52.72 crore would carry traffic proceeding from Padi to Madhavaram side. The opening of the flyover would provide much-needed relief to the motorists and residents in Kolathur, Perambur, Madhavaram and Red Hills area as the Retteri junctions witness traffic snarls all through the day. Already, the highways department has taken up the second uni-directional flyover work that takes traffic from Madhavaram to Padi.

Will inaugurate flyover if govt does not: Ramadoss

PMK founder Dr S. Ramadoss on Sunday warned that his party would throw open the Vadapalani and Anna Arch flyoverS if the government failed to open it for traffic immediately. In a statement here, he said that his party believes that the projects constructed with taxpayers’ money should be opened for public usage without any delay.

The works on the Vadapalani and Anna Arch flyovers were completed but both the projects were being kept closed without giving any reasons for it, he said.

“The government had not given any reasons for keeping the two flyovers closed. It was being said that it was being kept shut for chief minister Jayalalithaa who was recuperating in the hospital to return home to inaugurate it,” he alleged and pointed out that earlier if the flyover work got over, it would be opened for the traffic immediately and the formal inauguration would take place later.