Chennai To Get A New Circumferential Road; Tata Projects Bags Order For Phase-1 Of 56.2 km Peripheral Ring Road Project

Tata Projects today (Sep 27) announced that the company has secured an order of approximately Rs 2100 crores for Phase 1 of Chennai Peripheral Ring Road Project (Northern Port Access Road) connecting strategically important Ennore Port with Thatchur on AH-45. It includes Link Road to Chennai Outer Ring Road (CORR) from Northern Port Access Road.

Chennai Peripheral Ring Road will be a 56.2 km, six-lane dual carriageway, with a two-lane service road on each side. On completion of the construction, the Peripheral Ring Road is expected to provide better connectivity around the city catering to future traffic requirements and enable efficient commercial transportation by enhancing port connectivity.

Chennai region currently has 4 principal radial arterials, viz. NH-5, NH-205, NH-4, NH-45, to the north, north-west, west and south respectively. All the radial roads are congested and increasingly inadequate to handle the growing traffic need. City also has three circumferential roads viz., Inner Ring Road, Chennai Bypass and Outer Ring Road which connects the radial roads. As the city is developing beyond the limits of these circumferential roads, the need for new circumferential road was identified and Chennai Peripheral Ring Road project was conceptualised.

Under the Phase 1 of the project, a six-laned highway will be developed with a total length of 25.38 km including a 1.4km bridge over Buckingham Canal. It is targeted for completion in three years. There will be 26 structures in the project which includes eight major bridges, eight minor bridges, two road-over-bridges, seven vehicle under pass/vehicle over pass, and one interchange. It will also include 29.38 km of drains and 41.88 km of retaining wall.

The Phase 1 project from Northern Port Acess Road to Egmore is being implemented with the financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA

Construction of the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road is also expected to improve economic connectivity and road transport efficiency and safety in Chennai Metropolitan Area.

The 62-km-long Chennai Outer Ring Road (CORR) connects Vandalur in the southern end of the city to Minjur in the north. It was developed in two phase. The first phase, between Vandalur and and Nemilicheri, connects the NH4, NH45 and NH205 highways. It was open for public use in 2014. The 30km second phase, which connects Nemilicheri with Minjur was opened in 202.