CHENNAI: To boost cargo transportation to/and from the Chennai airport, the state government has decided to enhance road connectivity from the Bengaluru-Chennai expressway and East Coast Road to the GST road.
As part of the plan, the state highways decided to conduct a feasibility study for building an elevated corridor connecting the Pallavaram flyover to the Chennai bypass (Perungalathur - Madhavaram) at Tambaram. The highways also decided to convert Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam's six-lane radial road into an expressway while the works to extend it from Rajiv Gandhi Salai to ECR via Thoraipakkam is underway. Highways minister E V Velu made these announcements in the Assembly recently.
The 264-km Bengaluru-Chennai expressway which is under construction starts at Hoskote in Bengaluru and ends at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. The four-lane express highway is planned to be completed by December next year.
“A study is underway for building a four or six-lane elevated corridor as an extension of express highway from Sriperumbudur to Maduravoyal. The elevated road from Sriperumbudur will be connected to Chennai bypass (at Nazarathpet), thereby providing a direct link to GST,” said a senior official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
If the state government wanted to build an elevated road linking the Pallavaram flyover with the Chennai bypass, the authority has no objection. “Such an effort will bring the airport cargo terminal much closer to the express highway and Bengaluru bypass,” added the official. Sources from state highways said upgradation of Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam radial road into an expressway involves the construction of a service road, fencing the road wherever possible, and enhancing the lighting, thereby reducing the travel time.
The work to develop a 1.4 km new road from Thoraipakkam at Rajiv Gandhi Salai to Neelankarai (ECR) which was an extension of the road was commenced last year. “The road laying work for phase I will be completed in a few months. However, there were issues in acquiring land in a few places from the ECR to the canal. Once the encroachments are removed, work will commence from the ECR side,” added the official.
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