Chennai Citizen Connect: JJ Nagar bridge in Tiruvallur poses accident risk

CHENNAI: Several hundreds of villagers from Punnapakkam, Ramathandalam, Beemanthoppu, and Seeyanjeri, who use the Punnapakkam High Road in Tiruvallur every day to reach the town, are facing hardships due to the poor condition of the recently laid road. In addition, the newly constructed bridge on the road at JJ Nagar has put the commuters’ lives at risk.

According to the residents, the newly laid road is one foot below the ideal road surface level and several accidents have already been reported due to this in 40 days. The motorists stated that because an alternate route would take 25 minutes or more to reach the town, they had no other choice left but to resort to this route.

Recently, on October 20, an accident occurred on the bridge late at night in which two youths Ritin J (18), a resident of Kalyana Kuppam, and his cousin Prabhu (20), a resident of Nambakkam sustained severe injuries. Both were on their way on a bike to meet their relatives at Punnapakkam when they met with a brutal accident on the JJ Nagar bridge.

“As both were unaware of the uneven road, their two-wheeler suddenly hit the bump causing them to fall. Rithin’s ear got severed and Prabhu’s shoulder got dislocated and he sustained severe injuries on his hands,” explained Kannan, a relative of Rithin at Punnapakkam.

In addition, several residents of Ramathandalam blamed the authorities and contractors for the poor construction of the road.

“Within two weeks of construction of the new road, cracks started developing between the road and bridge. A week after the heavy downpour due to the North East monsoon, the condition of the road worsened causing damage to bikes, auto-rickshaws, and cars,” added residents of Ramathandalam.

Meanwhile, the officials of the Highway Department at Tiruvallur assured, “The damaged road at JJ Nagar will be re-laid within a couple of days.”