Work completed, Pallavaram flyover awaits CM’s date

The main construction work on the Rs 82.66-crore uni-directional flyover has been completed. “We are laying a service road on the Pallavaram junction. It will be completed in a week’s time. After that, the flyover can be opened to traffic,” said sources in the Highways Department.

 The Pallavaram flyover work should have been completed long ago if not for the COVID-19 lockdown that brought the work to a standstill. “The lockdown came into force when we were taking up the approach road on the Tambaram side. We resumed work in June, but it got delayed due to various reasons,” the official said.

 The 1.53-km, three-lane flyover will allow traffic from the Tambaram side to proceed towards the airport without stopping at the Kundrathur Road, English Electricals and Old Pallavaram Sandhai Road junctions. The construction work started in 2016, and on completion, the flyover, with its three lanes, will match the one in front of the airport. To facilitate construction, the department had strengthened the Old Trunk Road and took permission from the Cantonment Board and laid the Kundrathur Road after removing encroachments on either side. The 25-ft road was widened to 40 feet after the removal of encroachments.

 A major problem they faced was the heavy traffic flow on GST Road, as diverting the more than 2.25 lakh vehicles plying on the road daily was a challenge. “The flyover will be opened to traffic any time after Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who also holds the Highways portfolio, inaugurates it. Some other projects related to the Highways Department are also nearing completion. Pallavaram flyover will be part of that inauguration,” a senior Highways Department official said.