The Times of India  10.08.2010

Tender for Thirumangalam flyover, subway floated

CHENNAI: Residents of Mogappair, Ambattur and Avadi can look forward to some respite now with the state highways department floating tenders for the construction of a grade separator and a pedestrian subway at the busy Thirumangalam junction at an estimated cost of Rs 40.05 crore. The junction is the worst-hit by container movement within the city limits.

The flyover will facilitate smooth movement of traffic across two intersections -- Anna Nagar Second Avenue Road and Mogappair Road junction on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai. It will be 737m long and allow four-lane traffic. A two lane-carriageway on the surface, on either side of the grade separator, has also been planned.

With pedestrians tremendous hardship due to continuous flow of heavy vehicles, the highways department will provide one pedestrian subway linking Mogappair Road with 15th Main Road of Anna Nagar. "The subway work will be taken up simultaneously," said a senior official of the department. The subway will have two entry and two exit points on each side.

Since the two intersections are located close by, the department has planned to provide sufficient span, of 40m, for easy manoeuvring of vehciles. "It has been a harrowing task for the light motor vehiclists to take the route as movement of trucks is allowed all through the day. Not a day passes without a two-wheeler getting knocked down here," said N Aravamuthan, a resident of Ambattur.

Jawaharlal Nehru Salai is managed by the highways department and a vital link for thousands of vehiclists from Ambattur and Avadi in the west, Padi and Red Hills in the north, and Koyambedu and Maduravoyal in the south. With real-estate boom being witnessed in the western suburbs, , Mogappair Road under Ambattur Municipality and Anna Nagar Second Avenue of the Chennai Corporation have been experiencing heavy traffic flow.

Worse none of the pedestrian signals work in both the intersections and pedestrians are at the mercy of motorists. "Even the traffic police are not lending support to pedestrians. Instead they focus on vehicular traffic," said N T Jayachandran, a retired government official.

Though the project was conceived in 2006, it could not take take off because Metro Rail alignments were being planned. It was only in December last year that Chennai Metro Rail Limited gave it a go-ahead.

A recent study by the CMDA shows that intersections at Thirumangalam and closeby Vadapalani record a huge volume of traffic. Compared to Anna Salai, while the average daily traffic is 1.58 lakh PCU (passenger car units), Vadapalani records 2.08 lakh PCU and Tirumangalam 1.88 lakh.

New Bridge At Ennore Creek

The highways department also floated tenders for the construction of a bridge across Ennore Creek for connectivity of Ennore expressway with North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) Road. In the absence of any connectivity, vehicles from Ennore have to take a long de tour through Chennai Ennore Road, Manali Oil Refinery Road, Tiruvottiyur Ponneri Panchetti Road and NCTPS for a distance of about 15 km. The bridge is likely to cost Rs 40 crore.