East Coast Road in TN to be widened in Rs 70 bn project

The East Coast Road (ECR) between Nagapattinam and Thoothukudi stretching 332 km in Tamil Nadu is being converted into four lanes at an estimated cost of Rs 70 billion, according to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project director YA Raut. The Nagapattinam-Thoothukudi section (NH-32) passes through the coastal districts of Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi. The existing two-lane ECR will be widened under the Bharatmala Phase I (Revised PIB) scheme, and 90% greenfield and 10% existing road lands have to be acquired for the project. It may be noted that the NHAI handed over the 126-km-long Thoothukudi-Kanyakumari ECR stretch to the Tamil Nadu government in August this year. As per the Detail Project Report (DPR) for Nagapattinam-Thoothukudi NH, the project includes the construction of 47 Small Vehicular Underpasses (SVUPs), 22 major bridges, 45 Light Vehicular Underpasses, 11 major bridges over ponds and 669 new box culverts. It also includes widening works for 49 major bridges and six minor bridges. Raut said the ECR upgradation will benefit the State socio-economically by triggering foreign trade and industrial production along the southern coast, as the road connects the major harbour cities of Chennai and Thoothukudi. The ECR will also facilitate movements for defence vehicles, machinery for thermal power plants, ISRO projects, the atomic research centre at Koodankulam, and other vital installations dotting the southern Coromandel coastal strip. See also: Adani Road Transport assigns a project start date to H G InfraPAPs of Sewri-Worli elevated road to reinstate in Shirodkar market