Highways Dept invites bids for rail overbridge at Perungalathur junction

The construction of the bridge — which was proposed a decade ago — would provide much-needed relief to the motorist and the residents of Perungalathur from the traffic snarls.

The highways department has floated bids for theRs 206-crore project which connects Srinivasa Raghavan Street, GST Road and Eastern Bypass. As per the proposal, the rail overbridge’s main arm would start at Srinivasa Raghavan Street on the Perungalathur side crossing over the railway line to the rotary on the GST road where it has two arms to enter and exit on the Chennai-Chengalpattu and Chengalpattu-Chennai stretches. It lands at Eastern Bypass (Gandhi road).

“The proposal consists of elliptical rotary with two arms on GST road, one arm on Srinivasa Ragavan street and another arm on Eastern bypass (Gandhi Road). The railway portion lies in Srinivasa Ragavan street,” the official said.

A senior highways department official told DT Next that the bridge was proposed way back in 2005 got delayed due to frequent alterations made in the Railways in the combined general administration department, delay in obtaining the concurrence of NHAI. “The project was estimated to be Rs 76 crore when the administrative sanction was provided in 2010. Due to the changes made in the design, the cost of the project gone upto Rs 206.83 crore,” the official said, adding that a pedestrian subway proposed in the lieu of LC 33 initially was dropped.

In 2015, the railways closed the level crossing 32 in connection with the proposed ROB and it constructed one arm of the bridge over the railway tracks. The level crossing 33 adjacent to the Perungalathur station was widened to ensure free movement of the vehicles from the Perungalathur side.