Draft project report for elevated corridor on OMR soon.

With the draft detailed project report (DPR) for the construction of the 22-km-long four-lane elevated corridor on Rajiv Gandhi Salai being readied, residents on OMR have their hopes raised again that this would bring some relief from congestion in their area.

The draft DPR will soon be sent to the State government for its approval, officials said.

Traffic jams are a daily occurrence on the road that connects IT companies, an industrial estate, at least four slum resettlement colonies, and hundreds of residential localities with the city.

The elevated road was suggested to relieve congestion on the IT corridor where 1.17 lakh vehicles cross the Perungudi toll plaza on a daily basis. The number comes down to 57,000 vehicles at the Navalur toll plaza. The funding pattern for the first phase of the road from the SRP Tools junction to Siruseri, which will come up on the median, is yet to be decided by the government. “It will cost over Rs. 1,200 crore and will take two years to construct,” explained a source in the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), which will implement the project.

An earlier proposal for flyovers at Tidel Park, SRP Tools, Perungudi - Apollo Hospital, Thoraipakkam- Pallavaram Radial road, and Sholinganallur junctions was given up. The idea was mooted in 2010 and at that time only some 30,000–35,000 vehicles reportedly crossed the Tidel Park junction.

The road will have exit points at SRP Tools junction, Perungudi junction, Thoraipakkam Radial Road, Sholinganallur, Kumaran Nagar, Navalur and Siruseri. The exit roads will land on the service lanes and minimal land acquisition will be required at the points.

THE HINDU