Delay in Adyar bridge reconstruction near Chennai causes concern

The reconstruction of a bridge across the Adyar river at Thiruneermalai has been halted for a month now and the residents fear the bridge might not be ready by monsoon this year.
The under-construction bridge across Adyar river at Tiruneermalai (Photo| Ashwin Prasath/EPS
The under-construction bridge across Adyar river at Tiruneermalai (Photo| Ashwin Prasath/EPS

CHENNAI: The reconstruction of a bridge across the Adyar river at Thiruneermalai has been halted for a month now and the residents fear the bridge might not be ready by monsoon this year. The old bridge at Thiruneermalai was partially demolished in March as the Adyar river is being widened along this stretch and the state Highways department started the work to build a new bridge that is around double the length of the demolished bridge. 

However, for the last one month, the work has been halted and the residents fear that in case of a flood during monsoon, they may be trapped. “This is a very important bridge that connects Thiruneermalai to Thirumudivakkam, Mudichur, Pallavaram and the outer ring road. For now, we use the mud road across the river bed. But if this area is flooded again, we will have zero mobility without this bridge,” said K Rajamani, a resident of VGN Layout in Thiruneermalai.

The construction of the new bridge was initially scheduled to be completed by November. But the resident are worried if the bridge will be ready by November when mostly the northeast monsoon arrives.
An official of the Highways department admitted that the work had been stopped temporarily, owing to shortage of cement. He said the work would resume in a week. When queried about how the local residents can commute if this bridge is not completed before the monsoon, the official said, “Commuters can use the Tambaram-Nandambakkam route as it will be ready by June since the construction of a bridge on that route is nearing completion. People can use that route as an alternative.”

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