Work on Koyambedu flyover picks up pace.

The Highways Department is working to speed up the construction of the 1.15 km-long ₹93.5 crore flyover at Koyambedu on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai so as to complete it by the deadline - March 2019.

Beset with delays due to the non-availability of sand, shifting of utilities and obtaining permission from the traffic police, the work on the four-lane, bi-directional flyover is being reprogrammed .

Sources in the Department said the work will be done in phases. “The foundation and pile caps have been completed for about 2/3rds of the flyover. We will be pre-casting the girders and deck slabs so as to finish the work quickly.” said an official from the department.

The flyover will allow 69% of the 90,000 vehicles proceeding from and to Anna Nagar and Vadapalani to avoid waiting at the signal at the junction of Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Kaliamman Koil Street.

To facilitate the construction of girders and deck slabs, a traffic diversion will soon be implemented at the site. “Vehicles coming from the Thirumangalam side will take the service lane near the office of the State election commission. There is enough space for two-lane traffic on that stretch,” an engineer of the department explained.

When work on the girders on the stretch between the Koyambedu terminus and the Kaliamman Koil Street junction begins, the footpath and stormwater drain on the side of the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus will be demolished and that space will used to divert traffic.

THE HINDU