Work on widening Tiruchi-Dindigul National Highway reaches final stage

The State Highways Department has completed widening the city stretch of the Tiruchi-Dindigul National Highway and started installing steel bars on the concrete median to prevent pedestrians from crissing the road at random points. tepping over and crossing the road at undesignated points

The State Highways Department has completed widening the city stretch of the Tiruchi-Dindigul National Highway and started installing steel bars on the concrete median to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road at random points.

About 7.6 km stretch of the Tiruchi-Dindigul National Highway from the overbridge near Tiruchi Junction to Cholan Nagar is maintened by the State Highways Department. The increase in vehicular traffic, coupled with frequent snarls, particularly during peak hours, had necessitated the widening of the stretch.

The 14-metre-wide motorable space had shrunk because of encroachments, which increased the traffic woes of the commuters. At an estimated cost of ₹74.80 crore, the State Highways Department took up the project to widen the stretch in two phases under the Chief Minister Road Development Programme (CMRDP).

In phase - 1, widening the stretch from the Koraiyar to Cholan Nagar was completed early this year. The widening of the 2.4-km stretch at Karumandapam from Pon Nagar to the Koraiyar faced many challenges. Intermittent rain in May, along with objections raised by a section of residents against removal of encroachments hampered the work in phase - 2.

The problems were sorted out with the intervention of senior officials from the State Highways Department. The stretch had been widened to 18 metres, with a motorable space of seven metres on either side of the two lanes for four-wheelers and a dedicated two-metre wide lane for two-wheelers on both sides.

Storm-water drains were constructed on either side of the road and covered with paver blocks to facilitate the movement of pedestrians. Recently, the stretch was topped with bituminous macadam.

Officials sources said the department had commenced the final phase of work and started installing steel bars on the concrete median to prevent pedestrians from randomly crossing the road. The work is likely to be completed in a few weeks.