Highways Department begins work to renovate Anna Flyover

The initiative is part of the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Project for 2021-2022 and is being done at a cost of ₹8.5 crore and will be completed in three months

The Highways Department has begun work to beautify the nearly 50-year-old Anna Flyover, popularly known as the Gemini flyover, on Anna Salai. Repairs to handrails, laying of glass fibre reinforced concrete panels on the pillars, improved lighting, a fresh coat of paint and formation of landscaped gardens with pathways for the public to take short walks are part of the works being carried out.

An official source explained that the damaged plastering was being repaired and brick walls enclosing storage spaces under the flyover had been removed. Earlier, the space beneath the flyover used to function as a godown but this space has now been freed up. Apart from these works, a proposal has been made to install panels depicting the history of the Dravidian Movement.

The work being carried out as part of the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Project for 2021-2022 is undertaken at a cost of ₹8.5 crore and will be completed in three months. Since around 20,000 vehicles use the city’s oldest flyover every hour, the work is being carried out at night.

The foundation stone to construct the 600-metre-long flyover, with a curving trumpet arm, was laid in 1971 and was inaugurated by former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on July 1, 1973. It was constructed at a cost of ₹66 lakh. The statue of a man reigning in a horse was installed below the structure in 1974 as a reminder of the ban on horse racing.

Highways Minister E.V. Velu on Tuesday inspected the site and instructed officials to speed up the work. He said care should be taken so that the architectural beauty and heritage of the flyover was not disturbed in any manner during the renovation work.

G. Ramakrishnan, a resident of Besant Nagar, who commutes daily to Greams Road, said the flyover was a part of the State’s history. He suggested that a panel telling its history should also be placed prominently beneath it. Similar panels telling the tales of other infrastructure, including subways that were constructed in the 1960s using the World Bank funds, should be placed prominently, he added.