A crucial link between two busy highways in the making

Source: thehindu.com

The ‘120 Feet Road’ connecting Surveyor Colony to Mattuthavani is being restored to its original width as part of a larger project to connect Alanganallur Road with Melur Road. The plan is to prevent vehicles taking Dindigul highway to reach the Chennai highway and vice versa from entering the city and adding to the traffic by providing an alternative road between the roundabout near Fatima College and Mattuthavani.

The proposed road, starts opposite All India Radio transmitter in Koodal Nagar and goes through Anaiyur, Park Town, Iyer Bungalow, Moondrumavadi and Surveyor Colony to reach Mattuthavani. The length of the road will be 10.6 km – 9 km of corporation and 1.6 km of State Highway. The project involves widening of the existing roads through thickly-populated suburbs and along either side of a branch canal of Periyar Main Channel between Moondrumavadi and Park Town.

Though the 120 Feet Road is a corporation road, the work is undertaken by the State Highways after it got transferred through a Government Order. Prasanna Venkatesan, Deputy Engineer, State Highways, says, “The transfer process is one reason for the delay. Otherwise we planned to complete the project it in a year’s time. Shifting of utility structures and electric poles led to the delay and we hope to finish it by March.”

A six-lane stretch

Out of the 10.6 km of the road, the 2.2. km stretch between Mattuthavani and Surveyor Colony will have six lanes and the rest will have two lanes. “The broad road shall ease traffic and ensure smooth movement of even heavy vehicles that come from the Chennai and Dindigul highways,” he says.

However, all is not well with the restoration of the road. The broad 120 Feet Road at the Surveyor Colony-end becomes suddenly narrow and shrinks to a mere 60 to 70 feet when it ends on Melur Road in Mattuthavani. This intersection proves to be bottleneck due to encroachments on either side.

Advocate Prabhu Rajadurai, who argued a case relating to upkeep of the 120 Feet Road at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court few years ago, says that in the development plan prepared by the Department of Town Planning, the road was shown to be 120 or 80 feet throughout.

“But as the government did not initiate acquisition proceedings within three years from plan notification, some individuals went ahead with their construction, resulting in shrinking of the carriageway. However, the authorities can still acquire land through negotiation. A broad road will also benefit the commercial establishments as well. Importantly, at the intersection, a smooth curve must be ensured as per rule,” he says.

“If the road is broad at one end and narrow at the other, the very purpose of widening will be defeated. Vehicles entering the road smoothly at one point will clog the other end. Mattuthavani in Madurai is like Esplanade (Parry’s) in Chennai and in 10 years, this road will play a crucial role in connecting different parts of the city to MGR Bus Stand at Mattuthavani,” he observes.

“The number of vehicles using the road has increased manifold in the past decade. The city has also expanded till Kadachanendal and residents living along Alagarkoil Road and New Natham Road take this road to reach Mattuthavani,” says M. Dhanam, a resident of Vivekananda Nagar off the 120 Feet Road.

But, according to State Highways authorities, the road is narrow for about 100 metres in a particular stretch as per records, as a temple patta land overlaps with the existing tarmac road. “We will definitely remove encroachments at the intersection as work progresses. Right now, storm water drains are being laid on either side. We are building a culvert at the junction to widen the mouth,” says the Deputy Engineer.

“Though the road will not be exactly 120 feet on this stretch, we will ensure at least 80 feet. In the narrow stretch, the storm water drains are being laid as load-bearing structures with extra reinforcement so that vehicles can take up that space as well. Since the project has been passed without provisions for land acquisition, the built-up areas overlapping on the road have to be left untouched. Once the project is complete and vehicles start using the road, we will identify the bottlenecks and propose land acquisition in problem areas,” he says.