Six-lane elevated highway work to ease travel from and to city

CHENNAI: Soon travelling in and out of the city via the Maduravoyal-Sriperumbudur stretch would be a breeze with the National Highway Authority of India all set to take up the construction of a six-lane elevated highway along the stretch.

The 23.2 km elevated corridor project is aimed at ensuring hassle-free movement of vehicles in the busy stretch of the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway which witnesses heavy traffic congestion slowing down vehicular movement. As the stretch of the highway passes through predominantly urban areas dotted with shops, educational institutions, industries, restaurants, and commercial establishments, the number of accident-prone blackspots were on the rise. As per the traffic volume study, 1.15 lakh passenger car units (PCU) use this stretch which causes heavy congestion in the movement of vehicles. On the proposed elevated road, the DPR envisages a flow of 84,022 PCU in 2025 and it goes up to 1.09 lakh PCU in 2030. The at-grade road will see the movement of 63,036 PCU in 2025 and 83,424 PCU in 2030.

According to the draft detailed project report submitted by Vax Consultants in a joint venture with L-T Infra Engineering, the project road has been designed to accommodate a speed of 100 kmph except the at sharp curve where the 80 kmph design speed is followed. The six-lane elevated highway would start at Maduravoyal Cloverleaf interchange and end before the toll plaza at Sriperumbudur connecting the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway.

The elevated corridor would have four entries and exits at Maduravoyal, Outer Ring Road at Poonamallee, Irungattukottai, and Sriperumbudur.

The Rs 4,556 crore project is part of the 262 km Bengaluru-Chennai Greenfield Expressway which begins at Hoskote in Bengaluru and ends at Sriperumbudur.

SP Somashekar, Regional Officer, Chennai, NHAI said that Maduravoyal-Sriperumbudur elevated highway was part of the work plan for this year. Asked about the State government proposal to extend the Chennai Metro Rail corridor-4 from Poonamallee Bypass to Sriperumbudur, he said that initially it was expected to come up along this alignment. “Now they are taking their own alignment,” he said.