CHENNAI: As part of the Madhavaram-Sholinganallur Corridor 5 of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited’s phase II project, the CMRL will build a four-lane elevated flyover for 3.14 km between Mugalivakkam and Ramapuram on the Mount-Poonamallee Road. It will also construct a vehicular underpass (VUP) at the junction of Mount-Medavakkam Road and Inner Ring Road near Madipakkam.
The 3.14 km elevated flyover has been proposed to ease the congestion at busy junctions - Ramapuram, DLF and Mugalivakkam on the Mount-Poonamallee Road. On Tuesday, the State Highways Department sanctioned `45.49 crore to CMRL to build a VUP as part of the 47 km Madhvaram-Sholinganallur red line at the congested junction of Mount-Medavakkam Road and Inner Ring Road near Madipakkam. The land acquisition for the VUP will be completed by the State Highways Department, for which the government has allotted `36.25 crore.
“A government order permitting CMRL to build a 3.14 km flyover will be issued soon. The government will deposit construction expenses with CMRL,” said a highways official. The Madhavaram- Sholinganallur Metro line runs 41 km on an elevated track, 6 km underground and 1 km on a flyover.
The elevated 3.14 km integrated grade separator (flyover) from Mugalivakkam to Ramapuram near MIOT Hospital will form a double-decker viaduct for vehicles and Metro trains.
To ease traffic congestion on Mount-Poonamallee Road, in 2014, the Highways Department had proposed to build a bridge at Ramapuram. As vehicle volumes crossed 1.5 lakh a day, the department decided to build an elevated road between Mugalivakkam and Ramapuram. As a later development, it was noted that alignment of Corridor 5 of CMRL crisscrosses the proposed flyover on Mount-Poonamallee Road and VUP at Madipakkam junction.
In this backdrop, on August 20, 2019, the department requested Chennai Metro Rail Limited to plan the alignment of Corridor 5 without affecting the flyover and VUP at Madipakkam junction. During the joint meeting, it was noted that the alignment of the proposed highway projects merged in a few places with Corridor 5. Hence, the government decided to entrust the work to Chennai Metro Rail Limited.
As per the proposal, the land width required for the VUP is 30.50 metres but only around 22 metres are available. To acquire the remaining portion, `36.25 crore has been sanctioned. The proposed VUP will have 5.5 metres of carriageway on either side and will have 1.2 metres in width of the median.
While Chennai Metro Rail Limited sought `50.93 crore for construction work, the State government granted `45.49 crore. “For the current financial year, `11.37 crore has been allotted for the project. The rest would be released in the subsequent years based on the requirement,” said the order of the Highways Department.