Tamil Nadu government unveils Chennai to Puducherry elevated coastal road, ferry service

CHENNAI: The state government on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious road and maritime connectivity plan, proposing an elevated coastal road linking Chennai, Mamallapuram and Puducherry, a passenger boat service along the same coastal stretch and an industrial corridor connecting Chennai, Coimbatore and Thoothukudi.

Making the announcements in the Assembly, PWD and Sports Development Minister Aadhav Arjuna said the government would take up a series of projects to improve connectivity between industrial centres, ports, tourist destinations and major cities.

The proposed Chennai-Mamallapuram-Puducherry coastal elevated road will be developed in phases. The project is aimed at reducing travel time along the coast and providing faster connectivity to industrial centres, tourist destinations, ports and urban areas. A feasibility study for the project had been sanctioned in 2025-26, but further progress was pending. The government said steps would now be taken to expedite the studies and other technical work.

The government will also initiate steps to operate a passenger boat service between Chennai, Mamallapuram and Puducherry, creating a coastal tourism circuit connecting major destinations. The service will be taken up in coordination with the Union government and Puducherry administration.

To improve public transport in the cities, the Highways department has proposed to upgrade the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road to cater to all category of road users with Rs 280 crore allocation, while Rs 120 crore will be spent on improving Anna Salai, Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and EVR Periyar Salai to meet future transport needs. To ensure the safety of pedestrians, foot overbridges with escalators and lifts, including on Sardar Patel Road near Anna University and Madhya Kailash, have been planned.

In another major proposal, the state plans to develop an industrial corridor connecting Chennai, Coimbatore and Thoothukudi through a network of expressways. The corridor is intended to connect major industrial and economic centres with national and state highways and improve the movement of people and goods.

The government also announced that it would take up with the NHAI accelerating the work on the eight-lane Chennai-Kanniyakumari road, improve entry and exit points of Chennai, including ECR, Poonamallee, on the Chennai-Bengaluru highroad, Madhavaram on GNT road and also to take elevated road from Perungalathur to Chengalpattur on GST road.

The government plans to prepare a Tamil Nadu Highways Vision 2036, setting out the state's road infrastructure requirements for the next decade and aligning highway development with long-term economic growth.

Road safety will receive a major push with the Rs 500 crore Chief Minister's Safe Roads Project. AI-enabled cameras will be used to monitor traffic violations and identify accident-prone locations. The project will also include road safety engineering measures and emergency response facilities.

The government has identified around 18,000 accident-prone locations on state highways. Under the CARE (Corridor Accident Response and Emergency-care) initiative, 25 government hospitals and primary health centres located along national highway corridors will be upgraded with emergency-care facilities to treat road accident victims.

DPR TO BE PREPARED

• Elevated road from Lighthouse to Thiru Vi Ka Bridge at Adyar via Santhome and RA Puram

• Elevated road from Padi to Thiruninravur

• Extend the Vysarpadi ROB to connect GNT road and widening of Basin Bridge

• Widening of the bride across Cooum at Koyambedu on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai

KEY PROPOSALS

• A Tamil Nadu Road Safety Authority to coordinate road safety measures

• Rs 250-cr road maintenance programme, incorporating technology-enabled monitoring and the ‘Namma Salai’ initiative

• Rs 2,550-cr upgrade for 2,000 rural roads

• Rs 1,000-cr upgrade for 500 bus route roads in Chennai, Avadi, Tambaram, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli corporations