CHENNAI: Motorists heading to Vijayawada, Kalahasthi and Tada, in Chennai-Kolkata National Highway 5, undergo a lot of hardship as the incomplete road-widening work between Chennai and Tada has left the road in bad shape.
The issues regarding the Chennai-Tada NH road are plenty, say motorists. The sudden shrinking of road width at several places, congested junctions, potholes and mud piled on the road are posing a huge risk. Poor maintenance of service roads and lack of emergency patrolling vehicles and ambulances are adding to the woes.
“We haven’t seen a National Highway ambulance on the road for two years now. Four days ago, at around 11.00 p.m, a car fell into a pit at Chengalamman Koil junction at Karanodai. Four persons in the car were rescued by a truck driver after breaking the car windows. It took about an hour for the 108 ambulance to reach the spot. There is not a single ambulance at the toll gate or a patrolling vehicle. Until a 24-hour ambulance service and patrolling vehicle are provided, the NHAI should stop collecting toll,” said S Kalyanam, a resident of Alinjikuppam.
Movement of heavy industrial trucks and cars from Red Hills, Madhavaram, Perambur and Ambattur gets disrupted at Karanodai and Alinjikuppam junctions as the four-lane road shrinks into a single lane, along with a curve. “Near Karanodai, the road is in bad shape with a sharp curve. Motorists travelling to Kalahasthi Temple, not familiar with the route meet with accidents here. During rush hour, there is build-up of vehicles for up to three kms,” said motorist S Kannan, a native of Nallur village.
Poor maintenance of the road has not spared two wheelers as well. The mud makes the road slippery from Madhavaram to the Ponneri junction. “The dusty roads have made travelling a nightmare for the past 10 days,” added S Hameed, another regular traveller.
Work for widening of the 43.34-km stretch between Chennai Madhavaram and Tada into a six-lane one was sanctioned in February 2009 at the cost of `418 crore under Design Build Finance Operate Transfer (DBFOT) pattern for a period of 20 years. The toll gate was opened in April 2009. Larsen and Toubro, executive agency of the project, has maintained the road since then.
Though the road was widened into a six-lane one for about 60 per cent of the distance, the road-widening work from Madhavaram to Nallur has been stuck due to land acquisition issues.
As the inordinate delay escalated project cost, L&T terminated the project in 2015. Then, the the road went from bad to worse. According to the highway records, the road handles about 55,000 vehicles a day.
When contacted, NHAI officials told Express that a pending case between them and L&T will soon come to an end. “To compensate the land acquisition and escalated project cost, we had sought `378 crore from the government. On receipt of the funds, works will resume,” they said.