Villivakkam vehicular subway to be opened soon

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The Villivakkam vehicular subway, which has been under construction for the past four years, will be opened to traffic very shortly.

Mayor Mr Saidai Duraisamy told this newspaper that the subway work was complete. “We will soon open it for traffic,” he said.

With construction over, the subway is currently being painted. The city Corporation and Southern Railway are jointly executing the works at a cost of nearly Rs 34 crore.

The work order for the vehicular subway was issued in January 2008. The project deadline has been pushed back several times due to various reasons, including land acquisition and delay in removal of encroachments. The civic body had initially set a deadline of April 2010, it was then revised to January 2011 and then to July 2011.

The inordinate delay in the execution of the works caused severe hardships to the people residing in Villivakkam and Kolathur. “Since level crossing 2 has been closed for the subway work, we are dependent on level crossing 1 to reach areas such as ICF and Anna Nagar.

It takes at least 20 to 30 minutes for the railway gate to be opened during peak hours in the morning and evening,” said Mr K. Venugopal, a resident of Janakiram Reddy Colony in Villivakkam.

Mr R. Shanmugham, a resident of Rajaji Nagar was excited about the completion of the subway works. “We will be spared from taking detours to reach the city hereafter,” he said.

The city Corporation will take up the road over bridge on LC1 immediately after the opening of the vehicular subway, said a senior corporation official.