NHAI resumes Ennore-Manali road widening work

As part of the improvement project, the NHAI had widened a network of roads, including the Tiruvottiyur, Pooneri-Panchetty Road, Manali Oil Refinery Road, Ennore Expressway and the northern sector ofInner Ring Road, all partof EMRIP.

“We will complete the project in another six months. This will improve the connectivity between the city and the industrial belt,” said an official attached to NHAI.

The Rs 600 crore project was envisaged to improve connectivity between the city and the Ennore-Manali industrial belt. The foundation stone was laid way back in 2011. But the project was indefinitely delayed, as the Port authorities struggled to overcome the stiff resistance from the fishing community. The fisher families refused to relocate from there, as the Ennore Expressway that provided connectivity to the port passed through the space they were using for fish shops and drying of fish.

Entrusted with the maintenance work, the NHAI recently opened the Mathur toll plaza, in February after facing strong opposition from the public. The stretch was severely affected by sea erosion. The problem was accentuated with the rampant encroachment, which reduced the width of the carriageway. That is when the State government decided to improve the Ennore Expressway in 2010. The road improvement project aimed to improving the network of roads and bring them under the toll system.

According to the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), the vehicular traffic is of 32,000 Passenger Car Units (PCU) per day, which is set to increase.