As polling for Lok Sabha elections ended, work to demolish illegal structures to build vehicular underpass as part of the elevated corridor at Minnur village in Ambur town near Tirupattur along the Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 44) would resume next week.
Officials of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the demolition work will be done by by L&T that maintains the highway on behalf of NHAI. “Demolition of illegal structures will provide much needed space to construct the underpass across the highway. The new underpass will be completed by NHAI by year-end,” said a NHAI official.
Around 30 encroachments, mostly petty shops and commercial establishments, have been identified for demolition. Most of the encroachments are located on the service lanes of the stretch. They have been in existence for over two decades. At present, vehicular underpasses are under construction at Vengili and Girisamudiram villages near Ambur town as part of elevated corridor project. Construction of such underpasses are to prevent accidents on the highway and also to provide safe access to reach habitations across the stretch.
As per the plan, vehicular underpass, which will be built by NHAI, will be 12 metres wide and 5.5 metres in height - enough for buses and trucks to use it. It will be built at a cost of Rs 34 crore. On an average, the distance between each underpass would be at least 1.5 kms to ensure free flow of traffic on the stretch.
Originally sanctioned in 2011, the elevated corridor is being built at a cost of Rs 135 crore between the Rajiv Gandhi statue and ORR Theatre in Ambur town. The location is one of the most accident-prone spots in the district owing to congested neighbourhoods and public utilities like the Ambur bus terminus, a government hospital and a market in the vicinity.
The new corridor will be 1,450-metre long and 11-metre wide (main carriageway) with a median. Service roads, 8-metre wide, will be built to facilitate movement of two-wheelers, auto rickshaws and cars. Storm water drains, high mast lamps, LED street lights, reflectors and warning sign boards are among the other features that will come up on the corridor. More than 75,000 vehicles, mainly trucks and container lorries, use the stretch to reach Chennai or Bengaluru every day.
