Tamil Nadu Highway Authority Plans To Complete East Tambaram Bypass Project Within Two Years

The Tamil Nadu Highways Department issued a tender inviting bids for constructing the missing links in the Tambaram Eastern Bypass project at a cost of Rs 48.7 crore. The department has speeded up work on the bypass, which has been in progress for over a decade. More than 8,000 commercial vehicles use the stretch every day.

A proposed Tambaram Eastern Bypass connects Rajakilpakkam and Peerkankaranai with Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road. With the completion of the project, traffic on Perangalaser will be eased.

People living in south Chennai areas such as Velachery, Nanganallur, Madipakkam, Thiruvanmiyur and Adayar will benefit from a right turn from Medavakkam with direct access to the bypass. Traffic congestion is now inevitable since vehicles are passing through Perangalaser.

According to officials, ‌4.5 km of widening work has been completed near Selaiyur and Mappedu, but construction activities near Nedunkundram were moving slowly. Tenders have now been issued for a portion of the remaining work.

It is expected that the entire project will be completed in 24 months, and in the meantime, service roads, pavements, and storm water drains will also be built.

According to a Times of India report, heavy traffic on GST Road and MB Road causes frequent traffic congestion at Tambaram, the southern entrance to the city. In 2011, the department began construction of a four/six lane bypass on the east side of Tambaram to avoid traffic chaos.

However, the project was postponed due to land acquisition issues and getting permission to use forest land near the project, and near Perugalthur.

A former city planner recalled that the bypass for Tambaram was proposed in the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority’s (CMDA) first master plan that came into force in 1979 to help vehicles from outside the city avoid the railway line, and the Irumbuliyur Junction that was notorious for accidents at one point of time.

The state government sanctioned Rs 1 crore as a token amount for land acquisition in 2004 for the 9.3-km road that runs from Peerkankaranai on the GST Road and ends at Rajakilpakkam on the Velachery-Tambaram Road, where both stretches are yet to be laid. One more stretch for a length of 1.2-km has to be taken up. A 3-km stretch of the 9-km bypass covering Selaiyur and Thiruvancheri villages was completed in 2014, according to a report in The Hindu.