Be prepared to shell out more when you drive on the Chennai Bypass Road as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is gearing up to inaugurate a new toll plaza at Puzhal shortly.
This will be the second toll plaza on the 32-kilometre road linking Irumbuliyur in Kancheepuram district with Puzhal in Tiruvallur district. The first toll plaza is already functioning at Vanagaram near Maduravoyal.
A significant arterial road, the Chennai Bypass Road connects Grand Southern Trunk Road (NH 45) with the Chennai-Tada Highway (NH 5), attracting substantial volumes of heavy vehicle traffic. This helps in a big way to reduce the movement of trucks entering the city. “The new toll plaza at Puzhal has 12 lanes for entry in both directions. The facility will be operated by a contractor on an operate-and-maintain basis,” an official with NHAI in Chennai said.
Accordingly, the contractor will collect the toll charges and maintain the road as well. “We are yet to fix the tariff for the new toll plaza, as talks are still on with the contractor, a Maharashtra-based company,” the official said.
After its inauguration, vehicles plying on the stretch will pay toll at two locations, Vanagaram and Puzhal. Asked whether any forum had made a representation, official sources said they were not aware of any opposition to the new toll plaza. “So far we have not received any letter in this connection,” the sources said.
An official said that the date of inauguration would be fixed once the toll charges were finalised.