Work to lay the final 60-metre-long stretch of the Thoraipakkam Radial Road extension will be taken up shortly.
The 800-metre stretch will connect Rajiv Gandhi Salai and the Canal Bank Road and ultimately the East Coast Road. However, 16 houses that were in the way had to be removed. “We were awaiting a court order and when it came in favour of the project, we demolished them recently,” said a source in the Highways Department. The remaining portion of the road is expected to be formed in two months’ time.
Since the road will provide improved connectivity to ECR, many motorists only hope the work will be completed soon. “From the Thoraipakkam junction, the road which has a tar topping seems as if it is ready. But even if it is laid, unless a bridge is constructed across the Buckingham Canal, it will not bring any relief to the traffic that pours onto the road. The existing limited use bridges across the canal are very small and cannot carry heavy vehicles and they get jammed almost daily,” explained Kannan Bhaktavatsalam, a resident.
Sources explained that a detailed project report (DPR) was being prepared for the construction of a high-level bridge that should have a clearance of over 6 metres from the bed level of the canal. This was to allow boats to use the waterway.
However, a retired engineer of the Highways Department said that a bridge would not be possible at that point since the ECR side where the bridge would land is a thickly populated residential locality. There are houses all along the canal too and that land is under the control of the Water Resources Department for which it is preparing a proposal to remove encroachments. The removal was under hold due to the matter being sub judice.
“The construction of a bridge will take at least five years if at all it will be possible. There is an easier solution. Smaller roads on either side of the canal can be widened. For this, the Chennai Corporation has to take steps. Then a bed-level causeway should be formed across the canal. This will help ease traffic on OMR. Once the bridge is constructed the causeway can be dismantled. It may be an old solution. It will nevertheless work,” he explained.
