Highways Department Seeks Consultants to Study Proposed OMR-ECR Link

Consultants will have three months to study a proposed road link between Rajiv Gandhi Salai and the East Coast Road, with the contract valued at ₹14.20 lakh.

The proposed connection would run between Sholinganallur and Kovalam, where the two major roads currently run parallel until Mamallapuram.

Study to examine alignment and traffic

The Highways Department has called for consultants to prepare a detailed project report for the link.

The proposed road is expected to help decongest Rajiv Gandhi Salai, also called OMR and known as the IT Corridor, which sees around two lakh vehicles a day.

The urban stretch of the ECR sees little traffic, and the link would help motorists travelling from OMR towards the city, according to the source.

The assignment will begin with a topographical survey of the proposed location.

It will also include a detailed report on the alignment, a classified traffic volume count and an origin and destination survey.

The consultants will have to prepare a land plan schedule report and carry out a subsoil investigation, including geotechnical analysis.

Earlier link remains incomplete

Janakiraman, a resident of Thoraipakkam, welcomed the proposal for another connecting road between the two corridors.

He also pointed to the incomplete work on a link at Thoraipakkam junction.

“Land acquisition issues still dog it. Construction work is going at snail’s pace due to want of land,” he said.

His comments underline the land-related difficulties associated with earlier road-link work in the area.

Existing connection faces problems

A former Highways Department engineer said a road and a high-level bridge across the Buckingham Canal, connecting Nemmeli and Thiruporur, had been completed long ago using Tsunami funds.

“That road is a very important connection between the thoroughfares. Land acquisition for widening it from a two-lane facility was stopped halfway. The State government had also sanctioned the requisite amount for the same,“ he said.

Sivaraman, a resident of Thiruporur, said the surface of that road was damaged and had not been re-laid for a long time.

He added that bushes line the road and that it has no lighting, making it unfit for driving at night.

Source: The Hindu