CHENNAI: To ease traffic congestion at Adyar - Madhya Kailash junction, Highways Minister EV Velu on Wednesday instructed highways department officials to assess the feasibility of widening the four-lane stretch of Sardar Patel Road from the IIT Madras-Gandhi Mandapam Salai junction to Guindy into a six-lane road. He also directed that the ongoing construction of the ‘L’-shaped flyover at Madhya Kailash be completed before October 31.
Accompanied by officials, Velu inspected the progress of the flyover work at Madhya Kailash. The unidirectional, three-lane flyover is designed to ease traffic by allowing seamless movement from Sardar Patel Road towards Rajiv Gandhi Salai, bypassing the busy Madhya Kailash junction.
“A feasibility study will be conducted for the 3-km road widening project. Since the required land belongs to various government departments, there may be no need for private land acquisition,” said a senior official.
Sardar Patel Road, which connects GST Road at Guindy to Adyar, passes through key institutions like Anna University, Cancer Institute and IIT-Madras. The stretch witnesses severe traffic congestion throughout the day. Traffic gets piled up till Anna University when the signal at Gandhi Mandapam Salai junction turns red. Likewise, when the signal near Anna University is red, the vehicle queue stretches up to Saidapet court at Little Mount.
Regarding the flyover project, officials said all 19 pillars planned for the structure have been erected, though progress was hindered by difficulties in shifting metro water pipelines at the junction. “Pile work for the final pillar has been completed, and concrete deck slabs are being laid,” an official said.
The 652-meter-long flyover, built at a cost of `60.61 crore, starts 350 meters from the existing flyover at the Cancer Institute/IIT-M junction and ends at Rajiv Gandhi Salai, near the Kasturibai Nagar railway station.