Subway Installation Hits Traffic as NHAI Halts Work

29 Jul 2024 CW Team

Due to significant traffic congestion on the Chennai-Trichy highway caused by the installation of a vehicular subway, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) decided to halt the work on Thursday. NHAI had initially planned to expand the stretch between Tambaram and Perungalathur into an eight-lane road at a cost of Rs 250.7 million. This project included widening the two-lane Irumbuliyur railway bridge and constructing a vehicular underpass to connect GST Road with the other side.

The original plan was to use a hydraulic jack to push a precast concrete box under the bridge, a method designed to minimize digging and thus reduce traffic disruptions. However, for this process to proceed safely, traffic on the highway above needed to move at a slow pace. To achieve this, rumble strips were installed on Wednesday night just before vehicles leaving Chennai reached the Irumbuliyur railway bridge. Despite this measure, the combined effect of the traffic restrictions and delays in completing the second arm of the Perungalathur flyover led to a complete standstill in Perungalathur on Thursday, with vehicles backed up for up to 2 kilometers.

Given the severe traffic increase, D Ganesh from Varadharajapuram remarked that merely widening the bridges would not be sufficient. Instead, he argued that the construction of an elevated corridor from Tambaram to Chengalpet, as promised by the government, is the only effective long-term solution.

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