The first phase of the project has already been completed, while the second phase is expected to be over by August 2010, said a senior official of National Highways Authority of India In an endeavour to smoothen traffic flow within Chennai, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) conceived a Chennai Bypass toll road project valued at Rs 405 crore. Covering a distance of 32 km, the Chennai Bypass will connect Tambaram and Puzhal via Maduravoyal, interlinking the four national highways around the city in turn.
Project update
While the first phase of the project has already been completed, the second phase (from Maduravoyal to Puzhal) is under construction. Under phase I, a 19-km stretch from Tambaram to Maduravoyal has been built and formally inaugurated in April 2008.
The second phase of the Chennai Bypass project includes a rail-over-bridge near Pattaravakkam, an elevated highway through the Ambattur Industrial Estate and a clover-shaped flyover at the Chennai Bypass-Poonamallee High Road junction.
 Although construction of the 3-km elevated highway through the industrial estate has been over, it has not been thrown open for public use as work on the rail-over-bridge near Pattaravakkam railway station is in progress.
“We expect to complete the total project by August 2010,” said a senior NHAI official on conditions of anonymity to Times Journal of Construction and Design (TJCD). The official further added that of the total 32 km, almost 30.98 km has been completed.
Commuters speaking high
Even before formal inauguration, the flyover at the Chennai Bypass-Poonamallee High Road junction has gained positive response from commuters. The flyover will have Tambaram and the Ambattur Industrial Estate as its two end points, along with four routes proceeding from Poonamallee to Tambaram, Tambaram to Koyambedu, Koyambedu to Puzhal and Puzhal to Poonamallee.
When a TJCD correspondent tried contacting some Chennai-based commuters who travel between Tambaram and the Ambattur Industrial Estate, a whopping 100% opined that the flyover will bring great relief to commuters by significantly curtailing the travel time.
S Satyapal, a daily commuter travelling via the said route, further stated over phone that traffic congestion at Koyambedu has been a regular issue even during non-peak hours. She expects that once the flyover becomes operational then they can reach the Ambattur Industrial Estate in just half-an-hour’s time from Tambaram and vice-versa, as against the current one-and-half-an-hour.
The NHAI official believes that the flyover will considerably minimise traffic congestion at NH4 and the accident-prone Chennai Bypass-Poonamallee High Road junction.
Jeeta Bandopadhyay |
