Bridge to replace part of Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road on Pallikaranai marshland

In the near future, there will be a time when a 2-km stretch of Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road from Chennai One to Kamakshi Hospital junction will cease to exist. The Pallikaranai marshland will take over the seven hectares of space earlier occupied by the road, and flood waters will be able to flow without any hindrance.

An elevated bridge running to a length of 2 km will be constructed in its place. The detailed project report (DPR) for the project is getting its final touches. The proposal is to construct a six-lane elevated facility that will take off ahead of Chennai One on the Thoraipakkam side and land 100 metres ahead of the flyover at Kamakshi Hospital junction, said sources in the Highways department.

The elevated bridge will have 200 metres long spans so that the number of piers holding up the super structure will be less. Each of the piers will be 2.5 metres diametre. The civil cost of the structure alone will be around ₹450 crore and will take two years to construct since there is no land acquisition involved in the proposal.

All that will be needed is traffic diversion during construction. The road that connects Rajiv Gandhi Salai with Velachery, Pallikaranai, Madipakkam, Kilkattalai and the GST Road, at present carries around 1.25 lakh vehicles a day.

Removal of the road will bring some relief to residents of Ram Nagar, Velachery, and Madipakkam, that get flooded every year. “A total of 15,000 cusecs of water has to run to the Okkiyam Maduvu. At present, in the entire 2100 metres of road only 90 mts has culverts, which is hardly enough to permit free flow of flood waters.

This is perhaps the first time that an existing road is being removed for the sake of the environment,” explained another source. A retired Highways engineer explained that this road and others including Pallavaram – Kundrathur Road, OMR, portions of ECR, Sholinganallur – Kudimiyanthoppu Road, Kodambakkam – Sriperumbudur Road and Chennai Bypass were all planned through the Madras Area Traffic Study Unit that was formed by the CMDA.

“At least 15 roads were identified and maps drawn. Land acquisition too was taken up. In 1998- 1999, a separate chief engineer’s wing was formed to construct these roads. The radial road was formed using building debris and even some garbage.

We had no idea how the marsh will behave, so some sections caved in and had to be strengthened. In those days we had no idea of the environment,” he recalled.