Flyovers miss deadlines, add to city’s commute woes

Even as the Greater Chennai Corporation has proposed building of 15 new flyovers to ensure smooth traffic flow and downscale the pollution level, the pending flyover projects are worsening the traffic snarls and increasing commute times across the city. 

The court cases over land acquisition and slow progress in works have led to inordinate delays in the completion of half-a-dozen flyovers or grade separator works in the city, affecting the movement of vehicles at crucial junctions.

Works on six flyovers — Velachery at Vijayanagar junction; Pallavaram on GST Road; CMBT-Kaliamman Koil Street on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, Retteri junction; Medavakkam on Velachery-Tambaram High road; and Kilkattalai at the junction between Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial road and Medavakkam main road — that began almost three to five years ago, have missed several deadlines already. Four of these projects, such as Pallavaram, Retteri, Kilkattalai and CMBT-Kaliamman Koil Street, are still months away from becoming operational.

The Metro wing of the State Highways Department, which is carrying out the works, is citing various reasons, including the delay in land acquisition and related court cases, and heavy vehicular traffic and space constraints for the delay. But at the receiving end is the regular commuters, including office-goers and students, who face inordinate delays during the peak hours, not to speak of the choking polluting gases at the signals.

The works on the Velachery twin flyover, which began in January 2016, came to a standstill last year after the Madras High Court stayed the land acquisition at the crucial Vijayanagar junction. The Highways Department, which moved the Supreme Court, is hoping for a positive verdict to go ahead with the land acquisition on the Rs 92-crore project.

“We are expecting to take possession of the land by March after necessary governmental clearances. We are now in the process of making payments to the landowners. Once we take over the land, the works will begin in another six months. The deadline we have in mind is December,” said a senior Highways department official. As of now, works on 42 out of the 52 slabs on the main flyover are over.

The twin flyover was supposed to ease traffic flow at the Vijayanagar Junction, where Velachery Main Road, Velachery Bypass Road, Taramani Link Road and GST Road meet. 

As per the plan, while one flyover will start at Velachery Bypass Road and end near the Velachery MRTS station, the other will connect Taramani Link Road to the Bypass Road. The second flyover will go over the first one at a height of 13 metres at the junction. Both flyovers will have two lanes and will be unidirectional.

Ever since the works began, traffic snarls have worsened, with battered roads giving a tough time to both motorists and pedestrians. “A trip from Vijayanagar bus stop to Taramani takes 40 minutes to an hour during peak time. For a Rs 70-trip, it is too much of a hassle,” said K Govindan, an auto driver in the area.

After a delay of around two years, the three-lane unidirectional Pallavaram flyover on Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road would be open to  public next month. To ease traffic along three junctions, including Alstom Signal, Pallavaram Sandai Road and Kundrathur Road, the Highways department began construction of the flyover in September 2015, at an estimate of Rs 69 crore. 

“There is more work on this 1.5-km flyover, compared to others. We have completed 90 per cent of work, that too in one of the busiest stretches in the city,” the official said. “The works on the approach road on the Tambaram side will be over in a fortnight. Painting works are also being undertaken simultaneously. We hope to open the flyover for the public in mid-March,” the official said.

The motorists travelling via Koyambedu on Inner Ring Road could heave a sigh of relief with the construction of the CMBT-Kaliamman Koil Street flyover set to get over by June. 

“We have completed over 75 per cent of the works. We have completed all works on foundation and substructure, while that of the superstructure is over up to CMBT-Kaliamman Koil Street junction. 

We will complete the rest of superstructure works by June,” said the official, adding: “We are allowed to work only between 11 pm and 6 am as the area witnesses heavy traffic movement throughout the day.” The stretch houses Mofussil Bus Terminus and the Omni Bus Stand, besides the Koyambedu vegetable market.

The four-lane bi-directional flyover, which is being constructed at a cost of Rs 93.5 crore, would help vehicles avoid two signals at CMBT and Kaliamman Koil Street junctions. “We are planning to complete the works by June end and open it for traffic in July,” the official said.

K Sahana of Kolathur, who works at Vadapalani, said she gets stuck in traffic for at least 30-40 minutes daily while taking MTC bus to office and back. The traffic will be heavy on Friday and Saturday evening when people throng CMBT to catch buses to hometown. “For the last four years, the work has been going on at a snail’s pace. Why can’t they speed it up?”

The works on the 1,320-metre-long second flyover at the Retteri junction on Inner Ring Road, which will ease traffic from Madhavaram to Koyambedu are expected to be completed by May, along with the pedestrian subway facility. “The main works on the Rs 41.07-crore unidirectional flyover are over, while ramp works are underway. 

The works got stuck due to delay in the shifting of utility lines,” said the official, adding traffic movement would ease once the works are completed on the span near the Perambur Paper Mills Road.

KP Subramaniam, a former professor of Urban engineering at Anna University, said flyovers will reduce congestion only in the initial years. “That is the case with any flyover in the city. Flyovers only help to shift congestion from one junction to another,” said Subramaniam, adding such projects would help only those travelling in cars, and not those travelling on the buses.

The works on the 2.3-km-long flyover at Medavakkam have picked up pace after the appointment of a new contractor last year. Now 75 per cent of the works is over.

Like the Velachery twin flyover, the Medavakkam project got stuck over the delay in land acquisition. “The works got delayed due to land acquisition on the Velachery side. We didn’t even have proper access to the worksite. 

That is not the case with Velachery-Tambaram side of the flyover. In a week’s time we will start works on the Velachery side, diverting the traffic,” the official said.

The section of the flyover that will carry traffic from Tambaram to Velachery will cross the Sholinganallur-Medavakkam, Medavakkam-Mambakkam and Mount Medavakkam junctions on the Velachery-Tambaram Road and will be 2.3 kilometres in length. The remaining stretch will be 1.5 kilometres long.

For the last four years, motorists plying on Medavakkam road are waiting for the Medavakkam-Koot road flyover to be ready so that their daily woes come to an end. 

The works on this four-kilometre stretch have been in shambles since 2016, and there is no early relief at sight. “We are eagerly waiting for the flyover works to be over. But the inordinate delay has turned our daily commute into a nightmare. Buses move at snail’s pace during the peak hours,” said Leo Joseph, a regular commuter on this stretch.

The two flyovers at Keelkattalai – that are coming up at the junction of Toraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial Road and Medavakkam Main Road – are likely to be open in May. “We are planning to complete the works on the main flyover by March and then commence works on the approach roads. 

We hope to complete all the works and open it for vehicular traffic by May this year,” said the official, adding the works on the flyovers were speeded up after the appointment of a new contractor last year. “The previous contractor failed to execute the works on time. Hence the contract was nullified,” the official explained.