CHENNAI: The government has revived the Thiruninravur-Thiruvallur road expansion work, which came to a halt seven years ago due to land acquisition issues.
Once the 18-km stretch is converted into a six-lane highway, Tirupati-bound vehicles from Chennai can skip the congested roads in Thiruvallur district and take the bypass road (part of the said expansion project) instead.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in 2011 had initially proposed to upgrade the entire 124-km stretch between Thiruninravur and Renigunta in Andhra Pradesh on Chennai-Tirupati highway at an estimated cost of ₹571 crore.
While work gained momentum in the AP section, it progressed at a snail's pace in TN due to land acquisition issues. Therefore, NHAI was able to construct only a bidirectional road between Thiruvallur and Puttur near Nagari on the AP border. Beyond Thiruvallur, work came to a halt in 2015, said a senior NHAI official.
"Recently, all land acquisition issues were resolved, and tenders were finalised to complete the remaining portion of the project, which will cost over ₹320 crore. As a part of the preparatory work, we are conducting soil tests near ICMR NIRT in Thiruvallur. Actual road construction is scheduled to begin later this month," the official said.
“Though Tirupati is only 120 km away from Thiruninravur, it takes at least three hours now. We expect this project will reduce travel time to 130-140 minutes or less, he said.
