Highways Department to finalise Saravanampatti flyover details after meeting with CMRL

Tamil Nadu Highways Department plans to consult with CMRL before deciding design for Saravanampatti flyover in Coimbatore city

The State Highways Department, which plans to take up construction of flyovers at Singanallur and Saibaba temple junction in Coimbatore city, will finalise the design for a flyover at Saravanampatti after discussions with the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL).

An official of the department told The Hindu that the CMRL planned a metro rail project on Sathyamangalam Road (apart from Avinashi Road) and the flyover should be constructed with space for the metro rail.

The CMRL had said that the elevated metro rail track on Sathyamangalam Road would be at the centre of the road. So, there should be four metres space in the middle of the road for it. “We are likely to have a meeting with the CMRL before we decide the design for the flyover,” the official said. So, the construction of this flyover was expected to take time because it had to take into account the metro rail.

K. Kathirmathiyon, who is a member of the District Road Safety Committee, said the flyover construction was delayed because of the proposed metro rail project. Now, that the metro project was finalised, the flyover design should be integrated with the metro rail plans. Further, the flyover should not be for just one km at Saravanampatti. It should be an expressway from Ganapathi. Land acquisition for this was already planned and measures were on to start acquiring land for the expressway.

“The public were demanding an expressway from Ganapathi to Sivanandapuram (a little beyond Prozone mall) for smooth flow of traffic on Sathyamangalam Road. Since the alignment and plans for the metro rail project on this road was finalised, the expressway design should be integrated with it and both the works should start simultaneously. Otherwise, the expressway construction may face challenges and that project may be affected,” he said.