CHENNAI: With the completion of a majority of the widening works, the Chittoor-Thatchur six-lane greenfield expressway (NH 716 B) is set to open for traffic from May 1, making the northern parts of Chennai in the Tiruvallur district the first region in Tamil Nadu to gain use of an access-controlled expressway. Of the expressway’s total distance of 116.5 km, only 20.5 km is left to be widened, and the works are scheduled to be completed by December 2026.
The expressway, once completed, will primarily allow faster freight movement from industrial units in Bengaluru in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to Kamarajar Port (Ennore) and Kattupalli ports, without the need to enter Chennai city. It will be the state’s first highway to have closed toll plazas, allowing vehicles to pay fees only for the exact distance travelled between the entry and exit points on the highway.
Out of the total 116.5 km, 75 km runs through Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, while 41.5 km passes through Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu. Of this, 96 km from Chittoor to Uthukottai have been widened into a six-lane access-controlled expressway with a design speed of 100 km/h. The road was opened for trial a few days ago. The remaining 20.5-km stretch from Uthukottai to Thatchur, currently a two-lane road, is being widened into six lanes. The project has been divided into four packages and developed at a cost of Rs 5,486.32 crore.
NH will have separate entry & exit points at Chittoor and Thatchur
A senior official from the NHAI Chittoor Project Implementation Unit told TNIE that the first package of 43.8 km and the third package 34.66 km have been completed fully.
“The second package, covering 17.58 km between Nagari and Pallipattu, has only minor work pending. Once this is completed, the highway will be opened to traffic from May 1,” the official said.
He added that of the 96-km spread across three packages, 20 km pass through parts of Tamil Nadu, while the final 21-km stretch from Uthukottai to Thatchur lies entirely within the state.
The expressway links the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway at Chittoor with the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (CPRR) at Thatchur. It starts at Keenatampalli near Chittoor and ends at Kannigaiper on the CPRR, close to Thatchur. The 133-km CPRR is a six-lane access-controlled expressway being developed in phases from Ennore Port to Mahabalipuram.
Around 60% of the first phase, which covers 30 km from Ennore to Thatchur, has been completed. Once this section is finished, vehicles from Bengaluru and Chittoor will gain a direct link to Ennore Port, helping to ease congestion on the existing Bengaluru bypass and other arterial roads.
At 70 m wide, the NH 716 B expressway will have eight ramp plazas for entry and exit, along with separate entry and exit points at Chittoor and Thatchur, respectively. The plaza locations are Mapakshi, Anupalle, Arathala, Narasimha Rajapuram, Kumarajapet, Veerakaverirajapuram,
Pondavakkam, Vadamadurai and Kannigaipair. The project also includes construction of 24 major bridges, 17 minor bridges, 195 box culverts, 16 vehicular underpasses and 39 light vehicular underpasses, seven interchanges, four ROB and 112 utility crossings.
According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the expressway corridor is equipped with an advanced traffic management system, which operates continuously using surveillance and real-time analytics to ensure safe, efficient traffic flow and quick incident response, comprising 115 PTZ (Pan, Tilt & Zoom) cameras, 120 surveillance cameras, and 86 emergency roadside telephone systems.
It also features 58 video incident detection and enforcement systems (VIDES), 18 vehicle-actuated speed displays (VASD), 14 variable message signs (VMS), and six portal variable message signs (VMS) units to enhance safety and traffic management.