Link roads connecting Tambaram willl be renovated

Tambaram : Four rural link roads connecting Tambaram with nearby villages and other pockets are to be taken up for improvement under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Programme and Central Road Fund.Among the roads is the one leading to Somangalam. While the road is motorable till Varadarajapuram, beyond that it is in bad shape because of movement of lorries carrying gravel from quarries and mud to construction sites.

Officials of the State Highways Department said the road was to be improved in 2004 with help from the World Bank through a scheme of the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project III. Since it was not easy to comply with the TNUDP's mandatory environment and social safeguard framework to get assistance, the scheme did not move forward.On Friday, Highways Minister Vellakoil Saminathan told the press that the road would be improved at an estimated cost of Rs. 9 crore. The 9.8-km road would be developed as a two-lane stretch and its width increased to seven metres, from the existing 3.75 metres. The project will be executed under a scheme of Central Road Fund of the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.Three other roads would be taken up for improvement under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Programme.

An estimated Rs. 35.6 crore is to be spent on Vandalur - Kelambakkam Road linking GST Road with Old Mamallapuram Road. The two-lane road would be upgraded into a four-lane highway with medians. Traffic was on the rise on the road with industrial units and residential localities mushrooming in the neighbourhood.The road connecting Perungalathur, near Tambaram, and Kolapakkam, near Vandalur, is also to be taken up under the CMDP. The road is in bad shape and heavy rains during the past two monsoons depleted it of the metal topping. The 5.2-km stretch will be improved at a cost of Rs. 4.17 crore.

The road linking Mudichur, near Tambaram, to Manimangalam will also be improved. It is a bus route with the government operating a few services between Tambaram and Sriperumbudur.The 3.6-km stretch would be converted into a two-lane at a cost of Rs. 3.2 crore, officials said. Tenders have been floated and the works were likely to commence soon, they added.