Coimbatore: The Highways department has announced that 437 roads across the State running to a length of 6476.190 km are being upgraded to cope with the exponential growth in traffic. The upgrading of and improvements to these roads are proving to be an immediate requirement as the State is experiencing phenomenal growth in various sectors, a GO dated August 4, 200 issued by the department said.

As many as 99 Major District Roads (MDR) measuring 1902.406 km are being upgraded into State Highways (SH), 65 Other District Roads (ODR) for 761.83 km are being upgraded into state highways. Further, 273 Other District roads measuring 3811.954 km are to be upgraded as MDR.

The districts to be benefited include Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Tiruvannamalai, Villuppuram, Vellore, Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Pudukottai, Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Madurai, Dindigul, Salem, Namakkal, Coimbatore, Erode, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Virudhunagar.

The decision to upgrade these roads was taken after a careful study of the vehicular traffic density and the pressure that these roads were facing. The conditions of these roads were also taken into consideration, officials said.

Expenditure

The Government has ordered that the additional expenditure required for the maintenance of these upgraded roads should be taken care of within the allotted budget provisions for 2006-07 in the maintenance component. The status upgrading of these roads will help in getting higher allocation for periodical maintenance of these roads, sources in the highways department said. Depending on the ground situation, improvements to these roads in terms of repair and relaying would be done immediately either before the onset of the monsoon or after the season, officials explained.

Residents of Coimbatore can heave a sigh of relief, as 10 stretches are being taken up for upgrading under this scheme, the notable among them being the Podanur-Ramanathapuram Road via Nanjundapuram. This has come at a time when the Southern Railway has made the Podanur Junction as a terminal for the Meter Gauge trains bound for Madurai.

The residents who live on the suburbs of Coimbatore like Podanur, Vellalore, Chettippalayam commuting to office every day through the battered stretch of Nanjundapuram could heave a sigh of relief now.

Longest stretch

Similarly, the longest stretch North Coimbatore-Ramanathapuram - Chettippalayam road (via Lakshmi Mills Junction) is also being upgraded.

The other major road from Coimbatore to Mannarghat (in Kerala) via Thadagam (being an inter-state road) is also being upgraded. The other major road being taken up for upgrading is the North Coimbatore - Maruthamalai Road. Some other roads in and around Palladam, Tirupur, Somanur, Karamadai and Sirumugai will acquire the status of SH.

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