6-lane carriageway to come up on Medavakkam-Sholinganallur road

CHENNAI: To ease flooding in Sholinganallur, Perumbakkam and Semmanchery areas, the State Highways Department is all set to widen a narrow bridge on Medavakkam-Sholinganallur road near Classical Tamil Institute to ensure the unhindered flow of excess water from Pallikaranai Marsh into the Buckingham canal.

The department has invited a tender to construct the bridge with a 6-lane divided carriageway at a cost of Rs 12.36 crore to replace the existing bridge having 3 spans of 3 metres.

According to officials, the executive engineer of the Water Resources Department conducted a reassessment study based on the Madras High Court order. It focused on the effectiveness in conveying the flood water from the southern portion of Pallikaranai Swamp through the bridges in the Medavakkam-Shollingnallur Road and subsequently through the macro drain, Pallikaranai Swamp channel, Okkiyam Maduvu after the establishment of ELCOT-IT-SEZ.

The study revealed that there is drainage congestion in the area due to inadequate liner waterway in the bridges of Medavakkam-Shollinganallur road. “Reduced flood buffering was due to physical occupation of new infrastructures like IT-SEZ, Classical Tamil Institute and others in the flood plains,” it said, adding that the drainage congestion is also caused due to non-standard geometrical section and poor interconnectivity of micro drain.

“Medavakkam-Sholinganallur road is an important link road. It’s necessary to reconstruct the bridge for the present and future traffic requirements. Hindrance leads to upstream side-flooding in the Sholinganallur, Perumbakkam and Semmanchery,” the official said.

The high-level bridge work is being undertaken as part of the Chief Minister’s announcement of Rs 1,000 crore to take up works to mitigate floods in Chennai. In the review meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, it was decided that the 14 works at an estimated cost of Rs 93.30 crore may be taken up under the Chennai Flood Mitigation Fund announced in the budget for 2022-23.