Sudden important decision taken by the Highways Dept in Chennai about construction of subways & FOB etc!!
Posted on: 16/Dec/2022 9:23:14 AM
It was earlier planned by the state Highways department to construct subways/foot over bridges or FOB on the Guindy-Koyambedu stretch of JN Road (Inner Ring Road or IRR) plus at Guindy near MKN Road junction on the GST Road. Now, the state Highways department has shelved the plans. It must be noted that the approval was obtained by the state Highways department after waiting for a decade.
The official sources from the highways dept have confirmed that the GO or government order approving the construction of FOB/subways at Ekkattuthangal, Koyambedu, and near the Kasi Theatre on the JN Road and in the MKN Junction in Guindy that was issued in june 2012 was withdrawn recently.
The reason why the highways dept has dropped the plan was due to the fact that the feasibility studies did not sync with the proposal. Crossing the road during the peak hours was very difficult and challenging, This was according to some regular office goers and locals here. It is noteworthy that the IRR handles more than 1.2lakh vehicles per day.
The GO has mentioned that an alternate option of providing FOB at Ekkattuthangal and at few other places were also studied. Point to be noted is that vertical clearance was enough between the present road level and the bottom of the deck of the metro rail bridge to build FOB. The main issue was the presence of traffic signal junctions.
It is now said that constructing FOB near signal junction would not serve the purpose. In the same way, plans to construct a FOB near Kasi Theatre was also dropped. Information gathered is that to ease the traffic congestion that is present in the front of CMBT a 12m wide subway was proposed between 2 piers of Koyambedu flyover. Truth is that this plan did not materialise.
