The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : MIT bridge open to traffic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

MIT bridge open to traffic

K. Manikandan

Jayalalithaa inaugurates bridge built to replace level crossing

NEW FACILITY: The overbridge at the MIT Gate, Chromepet, which was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister at the Secretariat on Friday. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM: When President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam comes to his alma mater — the Madras Institute of Technology — next time, he will not have to walk across the railway tracks as he did during a visit in 2002.

At that time, Mr. Kalam (who became President three months later) was proceeding to deliver anendowment lecture at the MIT, when his vehicle was caught in a traffic jam near the railway level crossing. Instead of waiting it to clear, he walked across the track to reach MIT just in time for the lecture, as the audience gave him a standing ovation.

On Friday, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa inaugurated the Road Over Bridge to replace the railway level crossing at Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) gate in Chromepet, signalling the end the agonising wait for residents in the area.

Rs.26.2 crore project

The Rs. 26.2 crore project, launched in November 2002, was aimed to easing traffic congestion on the Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road and to close down the railway level crossing (LC No. 28) as part of gauge conversion between Beach and Tambaram.

The bridge will primarily help residents of Chromepet, Hasthinapuram, Chitlapakkam and also those in Tambaram Sanatorium, East Tambaram and those near Selaiyur to reach GST Road. Now, traffic congestion at the intersection of the Velachery Main Road and GST Road and also due to the downing of gates at Tambaram Sanatorium, delay motorists from reaching the national highway.

Officials were confident that traffic snarls in Chromepet would be a thing of the past, and that the ROB would ease traffic chaos in Tambaram and Sanatorium too.

Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) officials were a relieved lot. At a simple function around noon on Friday, Rural Industries Minister and Alandur MLA, B. Valarmathi flagged off an MTC bus that crossed the bridge to reach Hasthinapuram.

Other remaining works, include landscaping of the area under the bridge to preventing it from being encroached, laying of service roads and completion of staircases to help pedestrians reach either sides of the railway track.

More bus services

MTC officials said that with immediate effect they had increased the frequency of 52 B, 52 C and M 52 C from Hasthinapuram and Chitlapakkam to 122 from 90 singles a day.

Fuel saving is expected to be substantial , as the bridge would cut short the distance by about seven km.

Since work on the bridge began, buses proceeding to Chitlapakkam and Hasthinapuram used to take a detour of about 7 km via Tambaram, Poondi Bazaar and Sanatorium.

Southern Railway officials said once the remaining works were completed, the portion where the gates are would be closed.

With the completion of the MIT Bridge, they would soon close down the railway level crossing at Radha Nagar (LC No. 27) to take up work on a pedestrian subway.

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