Roads near Metro Rail stations to be laid soon

Nearly Done:Stations such as the one in Koyambedu are likely to be operational in a few months —Photo: M. Vedhan

The Chennai Corporation will soon begin road-laying work
in the vicinity of Metro Rail stations on the stretch between Koyambedu
and St. Thomas Mount. The stations on this stretch are likely to be
operational in a few months.

The Chennai Metro Rail
project has 36 stations on two corridors – Washermenpet to Airport and
Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount.

The civic body
has invited bids for specially-designed bitumen roads near stations in
Arumbakkam, Vadapalani, Alandur, St. Thomas Mount, SIDCO Nagar, Ashok
Nagar, CMBT and Koyambedu at an estimated cost of Rs.26 crore. The
Corporation will also improve civic infrastructure in these
neighbourhoods.

The existing layer of damaged roads
will be subjected to milling for 40 mm, and 60 mm of dense bitumen
macadam with a 40 mm layer of bitumen concrete that has plastic content
will be created on these stretches. These specially-designed roads are
expected to handle high-density traffic near Metro stations.

Work
in the next phase of this project will cover infrastructure such as bus
shelters, parking lots, streetlights, signboards, street furniture and
stormwater drains near the stations.

Officials of the
Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority have also recommended
improvements to civic infrastructure to improve the utility of the Metro
Rail network.The lack of infrastructure near the existing MRTS and
suburban rail network continues to be a hindrance to ridership, said a
traffic planner at CMDA.