Highways acquires defence land to widen GST Road under Pallavaram Grade Separator
Breath of relief for motorists of the choked route
GST Road (File photo)
CHENNAI: In a significant relief to motorists, the state highways department would take up the three lanes of the main carriageway on the left-hand side (LHS) of Pallavaram Grade Separator towards Tambaram from the existing one lane.
The highway department constructed a three-lane unidirectional grade separator at the intersection of Sandhai Road and Kundrathur Road with GST Road at Pallavaram to cater for the straight traffic from Tambaram to Guindy on the right-hand side. However, the proposal to widen the main carriageway on the LHS into a three-lane with pavement for the traffic plying from Guindy to Tambaram did not take off as land belonging to the defence sector shared a boundary with the public road.
The 1.5 km long grade separator was opened for traffic towards Guindy in September 2020, but the traffic plying on the LHS at grade choked due to narrow roads.
In January, the grade separator was opened for two-way traffic to solve the traffic congestion, but the road continued to be choked during peak hours.
A senior Highways department official said the defence land abutting the LHS of the carriageway was acquired. “The land was acquired from the defence after execution of a MoU between the defence department and the highway department, based on the creation of equal value of infrastructure (EVI) and recreation of assets proposed to be demolished on defence land,” the official said.
As per the MoU, the recreation works, including the construction of compound walls and other structures on the defence land, were completed on May 31, 2024, and the existing compound wall was demolished.
The official noted that the road widening for a varying width of 2.85 to 6.20 metres for a length of 460 metres of GST road was required to be taken up, of which 390 m belongs to defence land and the right of way available for the balance length.
The highway department official said the tender had been floated to widen the main carriageway on the LHS.
