TIRUCHY: As part of its effort to solve traffic congestion that prevails at various spots along the Chennai - Tiruchy-Madurai National Highway (NH 38), the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has floated tenders for the construction of Vehicular Underpass (VUP) at Sanjeevi Nagar, Y Junction, and Maruthi Nagar and an elevated rotary at G-Corner, bringing relief to motorists and local residents.
The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 204 crore. The tender process would be completed within three months. Once a competent contractor is identified, construction of three vehicular underpasses and the elevated rotary would be completed within 18 months, a senior NHAI officer told TNIE. Ever since NH 38 was thrown open for use in 2010, the Y-junction, Maruthi Nagar, Sanjeevi Nagar and G Corner witnessed severe traffic congestion and were labelled as “black spots” which means the localities are prone to fatal accidents.
Residents and motorists have staged protests on several occasions demanding provision of adequate number of automatic traffic signals, and deployment of police personnel. On March 14, NHAI invited bids from eligible contractors to build vehicular underpasses in these areas, along with the already approved elevated rotary at G Corner.
On Thursday, Tiruchy MP Durai Vaiko posted a message on his ‘X’ handle stating he had sent an email regarding the project to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on January 24, and met the Minister of State Harsh Malhotra on February 6 and requested to speed up the tender announcement. “We request NHAI to complete the works as soon as possible,” said P Ayyarappan, Coordinator of the Road Users Welfare Committee.