Chennai Bypass/IRR/ORR & Road Construction Update

[Arul Murugan]

Proposal to widen CTH Road gets a nod from local bodies

Traders, who will be hit by land acquisition process, are likely to oppose it


Waiting for relief: Motorists experiencing the agony of inching traffic as seen in Mannurpet on CTH Road.

CHENNAI: It may soon be the end of the daily ordeal for motorists taking the battered Padi and Thiruninravur stretch of the Chennai Tiruvallur High Road as Ambattur and Avadi Municipalities have given consent for improvements to and widening of the road.

The project, to be taken up by the National Highways Authority of India, may, however, run into trouble as traders along the CTH Road, who would be affected by the land acquisition process, are likely to oppose it.

Both the municipalities gave their approval for the project, including acquisition of the additional land to widen the road up to 60 metres. Officials of both the local bodies said the decision was unanimously taken by the council members.

The progress in the proposal to widen the CTH Road, a crucial link to Andhra Pradesh, has brought cheer to the residents of various areas en route. Residents complained that several stretches of the busy road were in an appalling condition, particularly in Thirumullaivoyal. Despite repeated representations made to repair the crater-filled stretches, the road has seen little improvement in the past two years.

“I have little option than to bear the back-breaking ride on the CTH Road to reach my office in Chetpet. What used to be hardly 20-minute ride from Thirumullaivoyal to the Padi junction now takes nearly an hour, owing to the heavy traffic,” said Venkat Sriram, a resident of Thirumullaivoyal.

Accidents are a common feature of the CTH Road as the road, narrow in a few stretches, is also used by heavy vehicles. Residents recalled an accident sometime ago, which involved a motorcycle and tipper lorry in Padi that proved fatal for a young woman who rode pillion on the bike.

General secretary of People’s Voice Roy Rozario said that several stretches were accident-prone. At least four to five accidents on the CTH Road were reported in a month.

Vice-president of Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre T. Sadagopan said commuters in share-autorickshaws face the risk of being thrown off the vehicles on the bumpy stretches.

On the other hand, the project proposal has disheartened a section of traders. State general secretary of Tamil Nadu Traders’ Federation K.Mohan said that about 25,000 traders along the CTH Road would be affected.

“We have decided to co-operate for widening the road up to 75 feet. We may have to oppose the project in case of adverse impact on traders,” he said.

An NHAI official said that as the local bodies had agreed to widen the road up to 60 metres, the project on the 22-km stretch would be taken up at the ground-level instead of creating an elevated corridor. At least 45 metres of space was needed for the project to take off. Land acquisition for the project, to be implemented on the ‘build-operate and transfer’ basis, would begin shortly, he added.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/18/stor...1860980400.htm

[Rasnaboy]

Staff Reporter

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It will cover traffic studies and surveys

The findings will help in judicious investments in road infrastructure

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CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has launched a comprehensive transportation study for Chennai under the ongoing World Bank-funded Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project-III (TNUDP-III).

The 18-month-long study would cover an extensive set of traffic studies and surveys, including roadside origin and destination surveys, traffic volume counts on all critical road links and intersections, a massive household interview survey to capture the passenger travel characteristics of the metropolis, parking surveys, commercial vehicle surveys, intermediate public transport surveys, bus and rail commuters’ surveys, bus and rail commuters’ surveys and accident traffic analysis.

The study will provide a directional plan for the Chennai Metropolitan Area and assist in making judicious investments in road and transport infrastructure, says a release. The study assumes significance in the context of the second Master Plan becoming operational shortly.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/19/stor...1958550200.htm

[Anniyan]

Roman Tarmat bagged two new work order worth Rs 1064.8 million from Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Corporation (Govt. of Tamil Nadu Undertaking).

The two projects are Oragadam Industrial Corridor , Singaperumalkooil at Sriperumpudur road and Kancheepuram at Wallajabad road.

The business activities can be categorized into the following three segments: airside works, highways and roads, and other civil works

[gandharva95]

It has been a while since we heard of any news about Chennai Bypass Phase-II from Madhuravoyal to Madhavaram

Any pictures/updates?

[TechCity]

CHENNAI: Here is good news for pedestrians. The Chennai Corporation is all set to scrape road surfaces on select routes before re-laying them. This is to ensure the height of the road remains the same and does not cause flooding along the sides. The process is known as milling.


"In the initial phase, a cold milling machine will be used to remove the asphalt layer on 38 roads for a distance of 16 km. The local body has issued a short tender notice to execute the work soon," an official told The Times of India.

The city has 305 km of bus route roads. According to official sources, the cold milling machine will remove the surface layer to a depth of 40 mm to avoid any damage to the foundation.

The original plan was that select locations in each of the ten zones would be milled and re-laid.

"We are happy with the results of the pilot process. The same technology can be adopted on the remaining bus route roads as well. Usually, blacktopping increases the height of roads, leaving the buildings on both sides prone to water logging during rains. The milling process is the best solution,” the official said.

In the current fiscal, BRR department has planned to take up 60 arterial roads for re-laying and tenders were floated in April and May. However, after finding cold milling successful, the local body has planned to include atleast 50 of them in the list of roads to be milled before re-laying.

The short tender notice for milling of 38 roads included Thiruvottiyur High Road from Tollgate to Ponnusamy Street, Prakasam Salai, Anna Nagar First Avenue (from New Avadi Road to Anna Nagar Sixth Avenue), Anna Nagar Sixth Avenue (from Anna Nagar Third Avenue to Second Main Road), Millers Road (from Dr Alagappa Road to Purasawakkam High Road), Dr Alagappa Road (from Raja Annamalai Road to Millers Road). Patullos Road, Woods Road, East Ramanathan Road, West Cott Road, Mayor Sunder Rao Road, Ashok Nagar Tenth Avenue, West Sivan Koil Street, Eldams Road, Pasumpon Muthu Ramalingam Salai, Ponniamman Koil Street and Ellaiamman Koil Street, part of Five Furlong Road, Race Course Road and Velachery Main Road.

Dr Muthulakshmi Salai, Kalki Krishnamurthy Salai, Gandhi Salai (from Velachery Main Road to Ambika Salai), part of Mandaveli Street, Karaneeswarar Pagoda Street, Sardar Patel Road, Durgabai Deshmukh Road, Greenways Road and Brick Kiln Road.

Source:TimesofIndia

[TechCity]

HOW GREEN IS YOUR ROAD?
Hedges to partition 69 arterial roads
Granite Slabs Being Erected As Medians, Bus Shelters To Dazzle
Julie Mariappan | TNN

Chennai: Come monsoon and the city’s frequently-cursed roads will blossom — literally. The Chennai Corporation is giving a complete makeover to a majority of the city’s arterial roads, sprucing them up with sparkling new medians that will be topped with a green cover and colourful bus shelters that will make up for the advertising space lost due to the pulling down of hoardings.
In the initial phase, the corporation has taken up 69 roads to provide them granite medians. Wide granite slabs will replace the loose kerbs put up by the traffic police on important stretches to streamline vehicular movement and to ensure lane discipline among the motorists. On some other specific roads, granite slabs will be set up on request from the traffic police.
According to sources in the corporation, work on 20 roads has already been completed so far while in the remaining stretches, it is in various stages of completion. Running on top of the medians will be a green cover, with each road getting three species of plants — clerodendron, tabernaemontana and ixora chinensis. After the monsoon, the congested roads will witness a burst of green. At least 30 km will be covered during the current fiscal year.
The contractors have been asked to take up the saplingplanting themselves and work has been completed in a few stretches including Anna Nagar and Egmore. But the corporation is not entirely happy with the manner in which the contractors are going about the plantation. “So we have asked the overseers of our various parks to supervise the plantation drive in all the ten zones,” a senior corporation official said. The corporation is also taking precautions against drivers ramming into the granite slabs: reflective pavement markers or road studs will be anchored on the road surface for lane-marking and delineation for nighttime visibility. The reflective panels will consist of a number of lenses containing single or dual prismatic cubes capable of
providing internal reflection.
It’s not just the medians that are being spruced up. Another eyesore on Chennai’s roads, the dilapidated bus shelters, will also make way for a swanky version. “Jindal Steels Limited has bagged the contract for three of the four sets of bus shelters. They quoted Rs 6 crore, which is more than what the previous contractor had offered. Negotiation is still on for the fourth set,” the sources said.
The construction of shelters will begin as soon as the project gets the official nod from the elected council during its meeting this month-end. The newlook steel shelters will have a clock, the schedules of the buses and 12 steel seats.
The local body had to refloat the tender after Opposition councillors raised objection against the selection of Adlabs Films Limited, which had quoted Rs 4 crore for each of the four packages. Their argument was that the removal of hoardings would make advertisers shift to bus shelters.
“When the city is attracting huge investsments, it is our duty to provide adequate infrastructure. The beautification drive is an attempt to compete with the best cities in the world,” Chennai corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said.
THE ARTERIAL ROADS OF CHENNAI ARE UNDERGOING A MAKEOVER, WITH GRANITE SLABS REPLACING LOOSE KERBS AS MEDIANS. SAPLINGS ARE BEING PLANTED TO GIVE DIVIDERS A GREEN COVER
As many as 69 roads have been taken up for beautification in the current fiscal year. Work is over on 20 of them Reflective pavement markers or road studs will be anchored on the road surface for lanemarking and delineation for night-time visibility The roads will also have swank bus shelters, which will have a clock, the schedules of the buses and 12 steel seats

CHENNAI’S BEAUTY SECRETS ADORNING THE ROADS: Clerodendron, tabernaemontana and ixora chinensis — the plants to be grown on the medians

TimesofIndia

[TechCity]

50,000 saplings to be planted along the roads

50,000 saplings to be planted along the roads
Julie Mariappan | TNN

Chennai: If one goes by the official machinery, then the streets of Chennai will have at least 50,000 saplings in the coming months. These will include 40,000 from the forest department and 10,000 from the Chennai Corporation, according to sources in the government.
According to forest department officials, there is a backlog of 24,000 saplings from last year. They could not be planted due to a variety of reasons, including the tussle between the forest department and the Chennai Corporation over the location for the official launch of the plantation scheduled for October last year.
Each of these bodies wanted to outdo the other by having its own launch in Gopalapuram, the residence of chief minister M Karunanidhi. As they locked horns, the plantation drive had to be postponed indefinitely. By the end of the year, they could plant only 15,000 saplings in the city, including in the suburbs. The places where the plantations took place were Tondiarpet High Road and Kolathur in north Chennai, Race Course Road in Guindy, TNHB Flats in Velachery, Kannadasan Nagar and MKB Nagar in Tondiarpet and Pulianthoppe zones respectively, Stanley Road, G K M Colony, Burton Wright Road and Constable Road in Ayanavaram zones.
“This should not happen again. The authorities of both the agencies should work together and find the streets and extend full cooperation in making this massive exercise a successful venture,” said K Ramadoss, president, North Chennai District Exnora.
The two bodies now plan to revive the plantation programme before the onset of monsoon. The saplings the forest department plans to raise include terminalia cattappa (badam), peltophorum or copper pod, bauhinia species (mantharai), calophyllum inophyllum (pinnai), mimusops elengi (magizham), pongamia glabra (pungan) and michelia champaca (senbagam). The saplings are being raised in designated nurseries in Anna Nagar and Velachery.
“We have sent the proposal to the government under the Urban Afforestation Programme. As soon as we get the official nod from the secretariat, we will kickstart the plantation drive, for which necessary arrangements, including installation of tree guards, have already been made,” a senior official in the forest department told The Times of India.
On its part, the Chennai Corporation is planning to plant 10,000 saplings this year. While 2,000 saplings have already been planted across the ten zones, the remaining will be planted, according to officials, “in an unique way.” According to the plan, each street will have an exclusive species: the idea is to have an uniform blooming. “Instead of having a variety, let the streets have a uniform canopy,” says Rajesh Lakhoni, Commissioner of Chennai Corporation.
The saplings that the corporation plans to plant include bauhinia purprea, cassia javanica, delonix regia, peltopho-rum, spathodia companulata, plumaria, ledgerostromea, cassia fistula, tabuebia rosea and cardia sebastiana.

Source:TimesofIndia

[Rasnaboy]

Good to hear that. But planting alone is not enough. There are several roads in Chennai already with such granite medians but still lacking proper maintenance. Hope these too would have a re-birth under this project.

[ferrari_fan]

which is the road shown in the picture above?

[gandharva95]

courtesy: Tamil Murasu (Dinakaran)



சென்னை பரங்கிமலை ஜி.எஸ்.டி. சாலையில் இருந்து வேளச்சேரி வரை ரூ.33 கோடி மதிப்பில் நான்குவழி சாலை அமைக்கும் பணி கடந்த ஒன்றரை ஆண்டாக நடந்து வருகிறது. முதல்கட்டமாக வாணுவம்பேட்டை வரை சாலை அமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஜி.எஸ்.டி. சாலையுடன் இணைக்கும் பணிகள் ஜரூராய் நடக்கின்றன. எதிரே தெரிவது ராணுவ பயிற்சி அகடமியின் நுழைவாயில் வளைவு.

Translation: IRR link from GST Road at St. Thomas Mount to Velachery is under construction since 1.5 years at the cost of Rs. 33 crores. In the first phase, the road up to Vanuvampet has been laid. The link to GST road is progressing in a steady pace. The entrance to the officers' training academy is seen in this picture.

[TechCity]

Source:Dinakaran

[gandharva95]

Monsoon watch

Rains may wash away Velachery projects

Rs 33-Cr Road, Rs 10-Cr Culverts, Rs 1-Cr Subway, Rs 6-Cr Drains — They May All Go Down The Drain If Govt Doesn’t Wake Up

The monsoon is only weeks away. Yet civic works such as repair of roads and desilting of drains have not gathered pace. Starting today, TOI brings you a series on the state of city’s preparedness

Julie Mariappan | TNN

courtesy: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...0400&AppName=1

Chennai: The state government is yet to wake up to the fact that the monsoon is only a few weeks away, considering that it has still not given permission to the public works department to carry out the desilting of the Veerangal canal in Velachery.
If the canal — the flood-water carrier which links Puzhithivakkam municipality with Pallikarnai swamp near Velachery MRTS — is not desilted immediately, low-lying areas like Velachery and Madipakkam would face a deluge during this year’s monsoon as well.
This year, there’s more at stake: the highways department is building the Inner Ring road in Velachery at the cost of Rs 33 crore. The railways is constructing a subway at the cost of Rs 1 crore. The highways and the railways are also building six culverts that will cost close to Rs 10 crore. Above all, the Chennai Corporation on Monday finished laying 3.5-km long stormwater drains in and around Velachery at the cost of Rs 6 crore.
If the Veerangal and canals leading to it are not desilted before the onset of monsoon, all these projects are bound to be washed away or submerged. “We are still waiting for the green signal from the Secretariat for our annual desilting programme,” a PWD official told The Times Of India. Majority of the city’s canals — whose desilting will cost Rs 4 crore — fall in and around Velachery.
“The canal is a perfect picture of neglect, filled with garbage and water hyacinths. These should have been cleared by now. But now it looks like residents will have to float on chunks of thermocol once the rains start. The whole area is going to be flooded,” said A Anandakrishnan, a resident of AGS colony in Velachery.
The 18m wide culverts built by the highways department as part of the Inner Ring Road project connecting Velachery and Grand Southern Trunk Road via Adambakkam Lake, will not serve their purpose during the rains unless the Veerangal odai is desilted. The canal was pushed away and its width reduced to 7.5 m in order to make way for the ring road.
"If the canal is not desilted in time, the embankment of the ring road will face the brunt of monsoon. The authorities have not learnt a lesson from the previous floods. Another drain that was built to carry excess water from Velachery Lake has also not been desilted. It is filled with plastic waste and raw sewage from commercial establishments,” says S Kumararaja, secretary, Federation of Velachery Residents’ Welfare Associations.
The highways department, which has invested a huge amount of money on the IRR project, says it won’t take chances. “In principle, the PWD has to do it. But we are holding talks with the authorities concerned to take up the work immediately, as it would break our embankment,” an officer in charge of the project told TOI.
This 5km stretch of IRR, which had remained unfinished for nearly six years due to delay in land acquisition, was taken up only in 2006. It is expected to be complete by March next year. “We had planned to lay the blue metals before the monsoon, but now it all depends on the desilting,” the officer said.
Similarly, the fate of the MRTS subway and the culverts being built by Southern Railway in Velachery also depends on the desilting. “We will soon meet the PWD officials to discuss flood-alleviation measures in Velachery. They should clear the canals immediately,” a senior MRTS official said.
julie.mariappan@timesgroup.com



WAITING FOR THE DELUGE: (Clockwise from left) A clogged canal that leads to Veerangal odai; works on subway and ring road in progress

[PlaneMad]

Btw i just noticed that the second chennai bypass bridge over the porur lake looked complete and painting was in progress.

[Into_salem]

CHENNAI: Even as the rest of the city got flyovers and subways by the dozen, the northern part of Chennai remained neglected. But this part of the city is finally getting its share of development projects.

Work is on to build three railway under bridges (RUBs) and one road over bridge (ROB), with the corporation taking up these projects at an estimated cost of Rs 42.42 crore.

The RUBs at the level crossing at Korukkupet, Red Hills Road-Villivakkam level crossing 2, another one at MC Road near Stanley Medical College, and the ROB at Kathivakkam-Cochrane Basin Road junction are expected to reduce traffic congestion and travel time.

Residents are looking forward to these projects which were announced over two years ago. The cost of the projects has also increased by a few crore rupees. These projects were part of a Rs 217 crore package announced in 2006 by local administration minister M K Stalin.

In 2006, the ROB at Kathivakkam-Cochrane basin road was estimated to cost Rs 10.08 crore, but has now increased to Rs 12.20 crore. The RUB at Villivakkam level crossing 2 was estimated at Rs 11 crore but has now increased to Rs 13.39 crore, and the 9.25 crore RUB at MC Road has increased to Rs 10.55 crore.

Work on the projects has finally begun and is likely to be completed by the end of 2009. Officials said the corporation was proceeding with work on MC Road near Stanley hospital, while the railways was yet to start its work. At the Red Hills-Villivakkam level crossing 2 project, railways has started work, while the corporation has to take up land acquisition.

“The M C Road level crossing is an important link for the whole of North Chennai. Nearly 10,000 people use it and when a goods train passes, the gates are closed for more than half an hour, causing heavy traffic jams,” councillor Suresh Jayakumar said.

Residents say they have been demanding the RUB for nearly 40 years. “If we have to go to the hospital, we have to take a 2 km detour. The subway will help save time in emergencies,” a resident said.

The Cochrane Basin road-Kathivakkam ROB will become an important link for residents of Kathivakkam. “Nearly 5,000 people from this area have to go to work at the Ennore Thermal Station and the harbour. They have to take a train, then walk nearly three km, or take two buses after getting down from the train. Even if one travels by motorcycle, it is 20 km to North Chennai. The ROB will reduce the distance to one km,” Kathivakkam municipal chairman A Murugavel said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/C...ow/3382500.cms

[satsukhoi]

[Rasnaboy]

They've even started painting in green a portion of the Ambattur estate stretch of the corridor. It looks marvellous especially when you drive on the surface road between the two elevated corridors.

[Madras_Fan]

Bypass Phase 2 will be completed before 2008 End.....

[ImBoredNow]

Sweet road.
I'm guessing it's a 4 lane expway.
Is the pavement laid down?
How's the road below the expway?

[futurebiz1]

Originally Posted by ImBoredNow

Sweet road.
I'm guessing it's a 4 lane expway.
Is the pavement laid down?
How's the road below the expway?

A long stretch of the elevated bypass passes over the Ambattur Estate 3rd main road.The road below is wide enough but bcoz of the constructions going on it is very very dusty.Although the road below is wide, only a small width
of the road is tarred.It is an interior road and the traffic isn't much.Also one does not have to use this road unless one wants to visit a particular place on this road.

[futurebiz1]

Originally Posted by Madras_Fan

Bypass Phase 2 will be completed before 2008 End.....

2008 End is a very very optimistic deadline.
Mid 2009 would be a realistic one, though my personal take is end 2009