TIRUCHY: While the major relaying work on the 14.5-km Thuvakudi-Palpannai stretch of Thanjavur National Highway was completed three months ago, the required safety measures, including safety markings and installation of reflective studs, are yet to be completed.
P Selvakumar, Project Director, NHAI-Project Implementation Unit, told TNIE that the relaying of the road along the entire stretch had been completed properly.
“We could not complete the safety markings and installation of reflective studs due to a shortage of commercial LPG cylinders following the West Asia crisis. As the situation has improved, the work will begin shortly,” he added.
The pending work includes installation of reflective studs and painting of safety road markings like lane lines, barrier lines, edge lines, stop lines, zebra crossings, directional arrows, and diagonal markings to enforce driving regulations. However, except for a few stretches, the markings have not been done, leaving motorists clueless while driving, said G Srinivasan, a resident.
K Rajendran, General Secretary of the Tiruchy Palpannai-Thuvakudi Service Road Retrieval Federation, said that the stretch had not been re-laid for over a decade despite NHAI norms requiring such works every five years.
“As the stretch had become almost non-motorable, with hundreds of potholes, the NHAI took up tar relaying after milling the existing surface in January 2026, and it took until the end of March to complete the work. Markings were done at a few spots but most of the stretch remains unattended,” he said.
As the process of expanding the service roads has been dragging on for years, Rajendran said that the federation had decided to meet the CM and the local minister to submit a representation urging them to complete the expansion work as soon as possible.
