U-turn flyover on OMR near Tidel Park, nearing completion

Completion of U-shaped flyover near Tidel Park junction in Chennai, with ongoing painting and electrical work.

A portion of the U-shaped flyover on Rajiv Gandhi Salai near the Tidel Park junction, is nearing completion. Currently, painting work, fixing of lamp posts and electrical work are being carried out.  

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), which is executing the project, said that the U-turn portion of the flyover is almost ready. “We had been waiting for the rain to stop to lay the bituminous tar layer for about a length of 250 metres. This is for the approach ramps on either side,” said a source.  

The arm, which lands on CSIR Road, perpendicular to the IT Corridor, will take at least three months to complete. This is because of several issues pertaining to service utilities running beneath the road. “There is a power substation nearby and over 40 large-sized cables of 110 KVA and 230 KVA run from there to the IT companies in the area. We had a similar problem while constructing both the approach ramps for this flyover. When we cut open the road, we found bunches and bunches of cables that had to be slowly moved aside to facilitate construction. There were atleast three major cable cuts during that time and repairs had to be carried out,” explained an engineer associated with the project.

TNRDC is also planning to dismantle and reconstruct the stormwater drains in the area to carry larger volumes of water.  

This is the second U-turn flyover on the road. The earlier one is in use near the Indira Nagar MRTS Station and it allows those coming from Tidel Park junction and wanting to reach ECR, Indira Nagar, Adyar and other places to reach the Indira Nagar bridge. This reduces the waiting time at the Tidel Park junction.

Suresh Subramaniam, a resident of Thoraipakkam, said that the U-turn flyover was of great help. “Facilities should also be created for pedestrians near the two flyovers. The traffic police should take steps to ensure smooth traffic flow at SRP Tools junction where Metrorail work has begun and only four lanes are available for vehicular movement,” he suggested.