Highways department begins demolishing buildings acquired for overbridge near Town Station

The State Highways Department has begun demolishing buildings which have been acquired for the construction of an overbridge across the level crossing on the Cauvery Road at Devadhanam near the Town Railway Station in Tiruchi

The State Highways Department has begun demolishing buildings which have been acquired for the construction of an overbridge across the level crossing on the Cauvery Road at Devadhanam near the Town Railway Station in Tiruchi.

A couple of months ago, the department had floated a tender to execute the project that had been hanging fire because of the delay in land acquisition. According to sources in the department, the tender is the final stages of approval.

Construction of the flyover entailed the acquisition of about 5,612 square metres of private land. The land acquisition process had been completed, except for one property. The compensation to the other property owners was being disbursed by the Revenue department, the sources said.

The department had now begun taking possession and demolishing concrete structures located on the acquired lands. The process is expected to go on for the next few days.

The overbridge across the level crossing situated between Srirangam and Town Railway Stations on Tiruchi-Chennai Chord Line, was sanctioned in August 2022. The flyover is to be built by the Highways Department and the railways on a equal cost sharing basis. The State government had granted administrative sanction for its construction at an estimate of ₹23.45 crore.

The level crossing is situated on Cauvery Road branching off from Odathurai Road on the south bank of the Cauvery and connects East Boulevard Road leading towards Gandhi Market/Thanjavur Road in the city. The frequent closure of the railway gate on the busy section had been causing much inconvenience to motorists.

The Odathurai Road leads to Chathiram Bus Stand and Cauvery bridge on the one side and the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass on the other. Both rail and road traffic are heavy on the section.