CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated the city’s longest flyover, linking Medavakkam with Nanmangalam, on Friday. The 2.06-km flyover along the Tambaram-Velachery High road will reduce traffic congestion at key junctions in Sholinganallur, Mambakkam and Madipakkam.
The flyover which was built at a cost of Rs 95.21 crore will allows motorists to skip Madipakkam junction. “This will come as a huge relief because it takes over 20 minutes to cross the 1-km stretch during peak hours,” said P Shankar, a regular commuter.
According to official records, at least 1.25 lakh motorists use the stretch daily. The arterial stretch also connects East Coast Road with the Old Mahabalipuram Road. Commuters are facing traffic snarls since the work began in 2015. The work was delayed due to a number of reasons.
“The original selected bidder was replaced by a new one in December 2018 after failure to complete work on time. The project was also plagued by land acquisition issues, which were resolved in 2020. These are the major reason for delay,” said an official from the State Highways department.
Commuters, however, say maintenance of the flyover poses a major challenge. “First arm of the flyover was inaugurated in 2021. Several trenches have emerged since then. We have been requesting for maintenance work since the monsoon. Officials must ensure this does not happen with the second arm too,” said P Kalyani, a resident of Madipakkam.
Residents also added that the service road near Pallikaranai must be widened. To travel from Pallikarnai to Perungudi, four-wheelers are forced to take a two-km roundabout, while the distance is only 500m.
There is only space for two-wheelers on the service lane that directly stretches to Perungudi from Pallikarnai. They also requested encroachments on Pallikarnai side be cleared.
“Vehicles are parked everywhere - on the sides of the road, between flyover pillars, on the service lane and share autos, on the middle of the road. While the traffic is always worse, during peak hours it takes anywhere between 60-90 minutes to cross an eight-km stretch. Adding to our woes, a huge textile showroom has come up near Pallikaranai and now at least 50 bikes are parked outside the showroom, blocking more than half of the road,” said Sreenivas Venugopalan, an activist from Vanagaram.