After a long wait, Chennai arm of Aristo bridge opened for traffic in Tiruchi

After a long wait, the Chennai arm of the Aristo road over bridge (RoB) near Railway Junction in the city was opened for traffic on Monday.

After a long wait, the Chennai arm of the Aristo road over bridge (RoB) near Railway Junction in Tiruchi city was opened for traffic on Monday, May 29, 2023.

Minister for Municipal Administration K.N. Nehru opened it in the presence of Collector M. Pradeep Kumar, Tiruchi Member of Parliament S. Thirunavukarasar, Mayor M. Anbazhagan, Commissioner of Police, Tiruchi, M. Sathiya Priya, Corporation Commissioner R. Vaithinathan and others.

The Chennai arm was opened seven years after a section of the RoB was thrown open for traffic. Then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa declared open through videoconferencing from Chennai. It eased the traffic congestion near the Central Bus Stand and the Railway Junction to an extent. The flyover was constructed to replace the narrow bridge that struggled to cater to the need for growing vehicle population.

However, the motorists could not enjoy the full benefit of the RoB as the State Highways could not take up the construction of Chennai arm due to a delay in acquiring a piece of land from the Defence Ministry. The State government had to wait for a long time to work out a methodology to acquire the land from the Defence Ministry.

After a long battle, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in 2022 between the Defence Estate and the State Highways Department to transfer 0.66 acre of defence land. As per the MoU, the State government agreed to construct an infrastructure worth ₹8.45 crore in lieu of the value of the piece of land.

The State Highway thereafter resumed the construction of the Chennai arm at an estimate of ₹3.53 crore. Construction of a compound wall along the defence land, laying of service lanes and rainwater harvesting were among the project.

The opening of the Chennai arm has enabled motorists to use all arms of the bridge. Among all, the bridge is expected to serve well to the motorists from Dindigul to join the Chennai-Madurai highway at Mannarpuram.