Radha Nagar subway to become reality after a decade

The State Highways department has called for bids for the project months after the Madras High Court rejected the residents challenging the land acquisition for the project.

The Highways department had initially proposed to construct a pedestrian subway in 1998-99. In 2009, work on the level-crossing was taken up by Southern Railway after which the State Highways department was supposed to take up construction of approach roads. However, since then, the project has run into several roadblocks, including land acquisition, leaving the project with no developments so far.

“The Pallavaram municipality passed a resolution favouring the construction of a vehicular subway and the design of the project was changed and the box portion of the structure below the railway tracks was constructed by the Southern Railways. But the project was revised into a limited use subway in 2012 following the residents’ demand for a subway for both pedestrians and light vehicles like cars and autos,” a Highways department official said.

The municipality proposed a limited use subway with 5.5-metre wide carriageway and 2-metre wide footpath instead of the original proposal of pedestrian subway considering the rapid growth of Pallavaram area and heavy volume traffic.

K Govindaraj, a resident of Radha Nagar, said that ever since the project was put in the cold storage, the residents of the eastern side of Chromepet had a tough time accessing GST Road. “If they have to come to the main road, they have to pass through Radha Nagar railway gate and were forced to cross the railway tracks risking their life. If the project is completed soon, it will keep the area accident-free and improve access to GST Road. Now that the decks are clear, I urge the State Highways to take up the work immediately,” he said.