The New Indian Express 09.12.2017
Chennai Corporation request to Tamil Nadu government for custody of 55 roads left in limbo
CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation’s request to the State
government to hand over to it 55 roads, stretching about 256 km in the
city, from the State highways, has not seen any progress despite
repeated reminders.
To ensure smooth vehicular movement and
better traffic design, the civic body has urged the government to
transfer the State highways in Chennai to it. These include Anna Salai
(from Muthusamy bridge up to Kathipara) and GST Road (Guindy-Tambaram)
that connects Chennai- Tiruchy National Highway-45 and EVR Periyar Salai
(Poonamallee High Road) from Muthusamy bridge, near Park Town, up to
Maduravoyal that connects Chennai-Bengaluru bypass.
In addition, the corporation has also
said several other roads that run for about 3 km to 5 km, including
Velachery-Taramani link road, Velachery-Thorapakkam road,
Velachery-Tambaram road, Muthuramalinga Devar Salai, Thyagarayar road
and 100-feet road be brought under its jurisdiction for improvements.
“To improve the traffic design of the
roads, we have proposed to develop many junctions where the city inner
roads join Anna Salai and EVR Periyar Salai. For such projects, we need
these roads to be handed over to the corporation. There are also plans
to provide digital boards and other improvement works at these junctions
under the Smart City programme,” explained a corporation official.
The civic body has also a dedicated wing
to maintain storm water drains in the city. “During floods, the
corporation is forced to clear the storm water drain of State highways
as well,” the official added.
The civic body maintains about 33,747 inner roads, spread over 5525 km
in the width of 10 feet to 40 feet. In addition to this, 471 bus route
roads (above 40 feet width) for a length of 387 km are under its
jurisdiction.
However, State highways officials said
highway roads are developed once in three years based on traffic volume.
“Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road carry more than 1.75 lakh
vehicles a day. These roads are to be maintained at the highest
standards. The top layer of the road is 50 mm thick to ensure that the
roads withstand heavy vehicle flow and different climatic conditions. In
addition, the roads are inspected and certified by a senior official in
the quality control wing, which the corporation does not have,” an
official said.
The official said that only qualified
contractors can participate in highway road works as the value of
tenders are above `two crore and tenders are regularly issued to
maintain the storm water drain.”
wish to be named, said for better transportation planning, roads that
pass through the city should be administered by the corporation. “For
better traffic design and planning, road network should be integrated
and administrated by one department,” he said.