Motorists irked over stalled Thirunindravur National Highway

However, there has been hardly any progress and work on the Padi-Thirunindravur stretch coming under the Chennai-Tirupati High Road (CTH) continues to be affected.

According to sources, road side vendors and traders in the locality strongly opposed the road-widening works, and NHAI decided to hand over the same work to the State Highways (SH) authority and released Rs 98 crore to SH for same. “The stretch was encroached by traders in a major way. However, it is the duty of concerned authorities to remove such encroachment. Considering the fact that for years there has been a massive traffic snarl during peak hours, the SH officials should wake up to the urgency of the situation and start the works,” said S Mohan Ram, president, Consumer Protection Council, Thirunindravur, who has filed a Right to Information (RTI) on this issue. 

N James, a motorist, pointed out to DT Next that with the rise in the number of vehicles on the road, office-goers take National Highway roads to reach their destinations on time. “Everyone knows about increasing traffic jam in the city and in such a situation, concerned officials should complete the work as soon possible. After all, when roads are being widened and made multi-lane, many motorists particularly heavy vehicles will prefer the Highways so that the traffic congestion will reduce in the city,” said S Kamalanathan, a resident of Ambattur, through which the proposed road would pass. 

When DT Next contacted the State Highways department, a senior engineer said they have succeeded in removing the encroachment along the stretch, to some extent. “Works will be in full swing after all the encroachment is removed,” he added, but did not give a time frame.