The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Subway to connect Tambaram with Chennai bypass under way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 22, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Subway to connect Tambaram with Chennai bypass under way

Staff Reporter

The underpass will help avoid detour of more than three km and save time Connecting Tambaram and Chennai bypass, it will help avoid three km detour

TAMBARAM: Work on an underpass to connect Tambaram on the Grand Southern Trunk Road with the Chennai bypass is in progress and is expected to be completed in a few months time. The underpass, more commonly known as subway, costs about Rs. five crore and would be of immense help to vehicles from Tambaram to travel on the Chennai bypass connecting Irumbuliyur and Madhuravoyal.

Avoiding traffic snarls

At present, motorists from Tambaram have to take the `U' turn at Perungulathur to reach the bypass. Apart from being a detour for more than three kilometres, vehicles have to wait for a long time at Perungulathur due to the heavy flow of traffic from the Chengalpattu direction. Container lorries, particularly from the Madras Export Processing Zone, find it extremely difficult to take this `U' turn, resulting in traffic snarls during peak hours, especially in the evening.

The Chennai bypass was built in order to connect the two National Highways: 45 (Grand Southern Trunk Road) and 4 (Bangalore Highway). When it was completed, it was possible for vehicles from Madhuravoyal to reach Tambaram, but there was no provision for vehicles from Tambaram to reach the Chennai bypass.

Accessibility

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) decided to construct the subway following demands from several quarters and also to set right the problem of inaccessibility. Once completed, motorists from Tambaram would be able to reach the subway through a slip road and join the bypass. The completion of the subway would coincide with the completion of the widening of the Chennai bypass, NHAI officials said, adding the subway was being built with box pushing technology, where the necessity for road cutting was avoided.

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