Four-laning of Chennai-Tiruchi highway needs speedy completion

By S. Ganesan

TIRUCHI, AUG. 2. The alarming increase in road accidents and the traffic density on the Tiruchi-Chennai highway have highlighted the need for expediting the long-pending four-laning work between Tindivanam and Madurai, a major infrastructure development project which is also expected to give a fillip to the economic development of the central and southern districts.

Though four-laning of the Chennai-Tiruchi highway was taken up a few years ago, the work has progressed only upto Pukkathurai, 67 km from Chennai.

Enquiries with the highways department revealed that the two international consultants, appointed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), have already submitted the project reports for four-laning of the Tindivanam-Tiruchi-Madurai section.

The land acquisition for the Rs. 1900-crore project would commence after a gazette notification was issued. A total of about 850 hectares is to be acquired for widening the highway from Tindivanam to Madurai via Tiruchi and Viralimalai. The project provides for establishing service roads, by-passes, flyovers, and truck and bus parking areas.

However, highways officials observed that the project needed to be given a push at the highest level so that it would be included in the National Highways Development Programme.

The heavily-used Chennai-Madurai corridor, running diagonally across the State, should be declared a connecting link to the Golden Quadrilateral project, connecting Chennai with Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkatta, the sources said.

The corridor has high patronage and substantial economic development is linked to it. The traffic load on the Tiruchi- Tindivanam section is estimated to be around 20,000 to 25,000 passenger car units every day and about 15,000 to 20,000 passenger car units on the Tiruchi-Madurai section. Once the four-laning work was completed, a drive from Chennai-Madurai could take just about seven hours.

More significantly, the project would contribute toreducing the number of accidents.

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Section  : Southern States
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