Sensational! The super link between OMR and ECR through a 36m high level steel bridge!!
In the future, a steel bridge would be constructed by the state Highways department across the Buckingham Canal and it would connect OMR or Old Mahabalipuram Road and ECR or East Coast Road. By this bridge, localities like Thoraipakkam and Neelankarai would be linked.
A tender has been floated by the Highways department for constructing a 36m six laning high level steel bridge. There would be small vehicular underpasses on either side of the canal, bund roads to help road traffic and approach roads to the bridge. It is brought out that the entire project would cost Rs 37 cr.
No objection certificate or NOC has been issued by the Inland Waterways Authority of India. As a result, boat navigation with a vertical clearance of 4m above the maximum flood levels of 2.70m would be allowed.
Details about the proposed link road:
Information collected is that the proposed link road would run for 1.4km from Neelankarai on the ECR, crossing the Buckingham Canal and would pass through Thoraipakkam. It would connect with OMR-Pallavaram Thoraipakkam Radial Road Junction. The state Highways dept has already completed 850m of the link road from the OMR side in the first phase.
To facilitate the construction, encroachments on the WRD or Water Resources Department land must be cleared. As per an official it was confirmed that the residents on the WRD land would be resettled through TNUHDB.
Only in localities like Thiruvanmiyur and Sholinganallur, ECR and OMR are connected now are known to us. These localities are about 11km apart. It is worth mentioning here that the link rod would be the only road that would connect Chennai`s key arterial roads like GST Road, Mount-Madipakkam Road, Velachery-Tambaram Road, OMR and ECR. Residents living in ECR would have a shorter route to Chennai soon by this link road.
It would reduce the traffic in places like Sholinganallur and Thiruvanmiyur junctions. It was later explained by an official that once completed about 40% of the traffic would be diverted from the OMR- Pallavaram Thoraipakkam Radial Road Junction.
