[1]The state highways department has floated a tender to appoint consultants to lay link roads at Neelankarai and Palavakkam at a cost of Rs100 crore to improve connectivity between East Coast Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai, popularly known as Old Mahabalipuram Road.
Besides the laying of the link roads, two bridges would be constructed across Buckingham Canal, which runs parallel to ECR and OMR.
“The detailed project report would be prepared in six months after the appointment of the consultant,” said a senior highways department official.
The state government gave administrative sanction for preparing the DPR for the projects in orders dated December 13, 2011.
“With Buckingham Canal running parallel to these roads, people residing in Palavakkam and Neelankarai on the ECR side could not easily access the areas situated along the OMR and vice versa. Hence it is essential to connect it at various locations to decongest the traffic on these two major arterial roads,” the official said.
The proposed link road at Neelankarai would start near Prathana Drive-in Theatre and run through 2nd Avenue in Prabala Nagar and crosses Buckingham Canal and connects OMR near Pallavan Kudi Iruppu.
The existing Pandiyan Salai, a municipal road with a width varying from 7 m to 12 m would be developed into a link road at Palavakkam, the official said.
At present, officergoers and college students residing along ECR have to take a circuitous route either through Tiruvanmiyur or Sholinganallur to reach OMR.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/ecrjpgcropdisplayjpg-267