Land diversion to be cleared for Perungalathur Road Over Bridge

CHENNAI: The long-awaited fourth arm of the Perungalathur grade separator connecting the Tambaram Eastern Bypass would soon become a reality, thanks to the in-principle approval from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for diverting land of the Vandalur Reserve Forest.

The completion of the last leg of the Tambaram Eastern Bypass and Perungalathur Road Over Bridge (ROB) would ease traffic congestion in Tambaram.

The work on the Tambaram Eastern Bypass and Perungalathur ROB, which are separate projects executed by the State Highways Department, had come to a standstill for over two years due to the lack of forest land. Officials from the State Highway Department confirmed that the Union ministry has given in-principle stage-1 approval for the bypass and ROB projects separately.

“We’ve sent proposals to the government for revised administrative sanctions for the two projects based on the stage-1 approval for forest land diversion,” the official said.

The Tambaram Eastern Bypass branches out of the Velachery-Tambaram Road towards Perungalathur on GST Road. The last 900-metre stretch of the bypass (to join the Perungalathur ROB) would require 4.46 hectares of Vandalur Reserve Forest land and the felling of 285 trees.

In the case of the Perungalathur ROB, the fourth arm joining the bypass requires the diversion of 0.95472 hectares of forest land and the felling of 204 trees.

Tambaram Eastern Bypass

The Highways department had proposed the construction of a six-lane 9.3-km Tambaram Eastern Bypass in 2004 to ease traffic congestion in locations like Tambaram, Chromepet and Pallavaram on the GST Road.

Sources in the Highways department said that the work on the 3-km stretch from Selaiyur to Thiruvancheri was completed in 2013, while the work on the remaining stretches was delayed due to land acquisition and encroachments. In all, a 4.5-km stretch of the bypass was completed.

On the Rajakilpakkam junction (starting point of the bypass near Velachery-Tambaram Road), sources said that a six-lane high-level bridge has to be constructed and integrated with the camp road grade separator.

“The DPR preparation is underway for the 850-m stretch. We’ve also made arrangements for the resettlement of 60 families living along the Rajakilpakkam Lake in the tenements of the TN Urban Habitat Development Board at Murugamangalam. Another 110 project-affected families along the stretch will also be allotted tenements,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the Highways department has floated a tender to take up the remaining work on the 2.6-km stretch from Mappedu to Nedunkundram. “Once we take possession of the forest land, we’ll start working on the final 650-m stretch,” the official added.

Perungalathur ROB

The in-principle approval for the diversion of the Vandalur reserve forest land for the Perungalathur ROB works would help the Highways department complete the fourth arm that connects with the Tambaram Eastern Bypass.

“We’ve closed the contract for the Perungalathur ROB due to the long delay in getting the forest land and shifting the Tangedco substation. Now, we’ve got the forest land but the substation is yet to be shifted. We had already paid money for shifting it but they are yet to identify land. Only after taking possession of the entire stretch of land, we’ll be able to invite a fresh tender for the remaining portion of the ROB work,” the official said.

As per the proposal, the ROB’s main arm would start at Srinivasa Raghavan Street on the Perungalathur side, crossing over the railway line to the rotary on the GST road where it has two arms to enter and exit on the Chennai-Chengalpattu and Chengalpattu-Chennai stretches. It lands at the Eastern Bypass (Gandhi Road).

The Highways department has already completed the works on an elliptical rotary with two arms on GST road and one arm on Srinivasa Ragavan Street and opened them for traffic.

Tambaram Eastern Bypass

· Fund sanctioned by the Highways dept in 2004 for land acquisition to build Tambaram Eastern Bypass

· Six-lane 9.3 km bypass branches out of the Maron Velachery-Tambaram Road towards Perungalathur on GST Road

· Delay in land acquisition and diversion of forest land delayed project

Perungalathur Road Over Bridge

· Construction to replace level-crossings 32 and 33 in between Tambaram and Vandalur Railway Station near Perungalathur

· Estimated cost of Rs 76 crore allocated under the in Railway Works Programme 2004-05

· Highways blamed Railways and NHAI for the delay

· In 2015, Railways closed the level-crossing 32 and constructed one arm of the bridge over the railway track

· State government revised administrative sanction to execute the ROB at Rs 206.83 crore on March 7, 2019

· One arm that enabled traffic from Vandalur towards Tambaram was inaugurated in September 2022

· A second arm towards Srinivasa Raghavan Street in Old Perungalathur was opened in June 2023

· The other half of the arm linking Chengalpattu to Tambaram was opened in August this year