14 roads near Chennai Metro stations to be wider.

Land acquired for Chennai Metro will be used for widening roads near the sites earmarked for Metro stations on the elevated line.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) has completed civil work on a number of stations and has now asked the Chennai Corporation to use the land it had acquired a few years ago to widen roads.

Data on survey numbers of the land required for road widening was handed over to the Corporation last week. Station Road in Alandur is likely to be the first road to be widened by the Corporation.

The Corporation has planned to widen 14 stretches that are expected to witness an increase in traffic flow once Chennai Metro is completed.

A number of roads near proposed Metro stations on Anna Salai will also be widened after work on the stations is completed.

Work on new link roads, connecting Kaliamman Koil Street near Vadapalani and Poonamallee High Road through Nerkundram Main Road, is also likely to begin shortly.

Wider roads will also be specially designed to handle high-density traffic near the Metro stations.

CMRL authorities said identifying land for designing wider roads and footpaths near the proposed Metro stations in Arumbakkam, Vadapalani, Alandur, SIDCO Nagar, Ashok Nagar, CMBT and Koyambedu continues to be challenging.

The network of road and pavements near Metro stations may make the facility more accessible. Study on optimum width of road near Metro stations will be carried out shortly.

Improvement work on 30 routes along the Koyambedu-St. Thomas Mount stretch, where mini buses and share autorickshaws will ply commuters from interior areas, will begin after this study.


THE HINDU