The Hindu : Front Page : Four-laning of two road stretches on

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Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007
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Four-laning of two road stretches on

S. Ganesan

MAKING WAY: Workers engaged in clearing the trees near Ariyamangalam. — Photo: M. Moorthy

TIRUCHI: Work to convert the Tiruchi-Padalur section of National Highway 45 into a four-lane road has commenced.

Site clearance works, including felling of roadside trees and levelling, are in advanced stages at several stretches. Road laying and construction of bridges will commence after Pongal.

The National Highways Authority of India has divided the work into two packages — Tiruchi-Padalur and Padalur-Ulundurpet. Taken up under build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, the project is to be completed within 30 months from November 2006. Land acquisition process for widening the highway is also in the final stage.

While the Tiruchi-Padalur package has been awarded to an Indian consortium, Navayuga-Indu-Abhisek, work on the Padalur-Ulundurpet section is being executed by an Indo-Malaysian joint venture, IJM-Sapoorji Pallonji. Preliminary works have begun on the 92.7-km Padalur-Ulundurpet stretch.

The 40-km Tiruchi-Padalur section will have 19 minor and major bridges. Apart from new bridges across the Cauvery and the Coleroon rivers, flyovers will come up at Ariyamangalam Palpannai Junction, TVS Tollgate and Mannarpuram. The existing road over-bridges across railway crossings near Goldenrock and Ariyamangalam will be replaced with new ones.

The highway will have a total width of about 60 metres, including service lanes on either side and centre medians.

The traffic load on the Tiruchi-Tindivanam section is estimated to be around 20,000 to 25,000 passenger car units every day. Work on four-laning the Tiruchi-Madurai Highway (NH 45 B) is under way and preliminary works have just begun on the Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway.

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