CHENNAI: Chennai’s infrastructure at Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) is set to undergo a rapid change as the government is planning a Rs 3,088 crore multi-deck elevated transport corridor under two phases to decongest the IT Expressway.
This comes even as land is being acquired for the Phase-II of Chennai Metro’s third corridor from Madhavaram to Sipcot. The Metro project will become an elevated stretch ahead of SRP Tools junction.
Similarly, the State government has also planned an elevated corridor under two phases from Taramani to Siruseri in Phase-I and Siruseri to Mahabalipuram in Phase-II along OMR. Official sources said both Chennai Metro and State government projects will be merged and the Old Mahabalipuram Phase-I project from Taramani to Siruseri, which is about 18 km will be taken up initially.
Under this, a single pier of 2.50 metre wide is proposed in the median. This will have a vertical clearance of 5.5 metre and will be dual deck elevated corridor at certain places and at times triple-decked one. The elevated road will be at first level above ground and Chennai Metro rail will be in the second level. Interestingly, Chennai Metro rail will be at third level at three main junctions which include Perungudi, Thoraipakam and Sholinganallur wherein the elevated road will be in second level and the entry or exit ramp facilities will be in first level.
Both the elevated road and Metro Rail corridors will be in a single-pier system and have separate piers located alternatively on the road median. The elevated road starts before SRP junction and ends at Siruseri junction having entry and exit ramps at Perungudi junction, Thoraipakkam, Sholinganallur junction and Siruseri junction.
The elevated corridor will have 12 foot over bridges with the scope to have facilities like escalators, lighting, security and 24x7 power supply. The proposal to have elevated road was worked out as traffic volume in OMR is 10,178 car units per hour which is twice the capacity of the road.