Chennai: Lack of causeway at Padi Kuppam makes commuting dangerous

CHENNAI: Crossing through sludge, passing active work zones with heavy machinery, and walking along a path barely fit to use, this is the route schoolchildren take to reach home in Padi Kuppam.

The half-finished causeway, built as a ‘temporary solution,’ has ended up creating more problems than it intended to solve.

When it rains, commuting is distressing for residents of Rail Nagar Padi Kuppam as the existing causeway gets submerged, forcing them to take a 2 km detour to reach Poonamallee High Road. “People who travel by car or bike use the Golden George Bridge to enter Padi Kuppam and Mogappair. But for those on foot, this causeway is the only easy way to cross. The new one hasn’t made our lives easier,” said Shanthi, a resident.

The existing two-lane causeway, now submerged when the Cooum overflows, was a wide link road. The makeshift one that is replacing it, is narrow, and barely a single-lane. “It’s a temporary one and we cannot build a wider lane,” explained an official from the State Highway Department.

Schoolchildren from a private school on Poonamallee High Road are among its regular users to get home. “It’s the easy route for us,” said a student in Class 8 who navigated the construction debris after talking to this reporter.

Work on the Rs 22.6-crore high-level bridge, taken up by the Highways department, began earlier this year to replace the existing causeway. The 91-m bridge, expected to be completed in 18 months, will provide all-weather connectivity between Poonamallee High Road and Mogappair.

But, the works have been moving at snail pace as it took at least a year to start the project. A year later, it’s barely in starting place. The temporary causeway laid three months ago now serves as the only route for pedestrians when monsoon hits.

“We don’t have control over the delay now. The Water Resources and Revenue departments have to clear encroachments along the river. The encroachers have gone to court, and we hope it will be resolved soon,” said an official from the Highways department. “Requests to divert traffic on Poonamallee High Road to speed up construction have also gone unanswered.”

Flooding along the Cooum has affected other stretches too. In Adayalampattu, the causeway connecting Sri Lalithambigai Medical College and Hospital of MGR University was also submerged recently, forcing students to take a three-kilometre detour. Residents in the area are demanding a similar high-level bridge to ensure year-round connectivity.