Citizen Connect: Despite traffic snarls at Pallavaram, flyover work gets delayed further

The construction of a flyover on Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road was started in April 2016 and was scheduled to be completed in October 2017. However, it has missed several deadlines and the commuters are still struggling to get past Pallavaram due to the traffic congestion caused by the construction work.

To facilitate smooth movement of traffic on GST Road, the government decided to construct a three-lane unidirectional grade separator. The flyover will help the commuters cross Alstom signal, Pallavaram Santhai Road and Kundrathur signal without any traffic pile-up. The flyover was planned to be constructed at a stretch of 1.4 km at an estimation of Rs 68.86 crore. Nearly two years after the first deadline, only 75 per cent of the works have been completed and the cost has escalated to Rs 82 crore. 

According to sources, nearly 20,000 vehicles per day pass through the area where the construction is underway. It takes at least 30 minutes for the people to cross the stretch.

Dinesh, a resident of Tambaram, said, “My office is in Guindy. I stopped using my two-wheeler to the office and travel in train every day as it takes 40 minutes to the cross the place where the construction is taking place.”

V Santhanam, a social activist, said, “While it takes 30 minutes for two-wheelers, four-wheeler take more time than that to cross Pallavaram.” Due to the traffic, passengers who travel to Chennai airport are affected daily. Even ambulances can’t cross there quickly. The police also tried to divert the traffic to Santhai Road without letting the vehicles on GST Road. However, the measure doesn’t help to control traffic during peak hours.

Many commuters park their two-wheelers in Tambaram and travel to the city in trains from suburbs. Commuters said that they were happy when the construction of the flyover was announced, but it has become a nightmare now.

The officials said that they are facing difficulties in the construction with vehicle plying on the stretch all the time, as there is no option to divert the traffic. The Highways Additional Engineer Kanimozhi said that the work was stopped due to a shortage of sand. “We tried using m-sand but it didn’t help. Now, with the government’s help, we have provided river sand and the work will be completed by the end of this year,” she said.