Demarcation of land for new road overbridge completed

The Highways Department has completed demarcation of land to be acquired or alienated by different government agencies for the proposed new road overbridge at Viralimalai Road intersection near the Railway Junction in Tiruchi.

The new multi-level ROB will replace the existing narrow bridge that has turned a traffic bottleneck in the city. The State government has already accorded administrative sanction for the ROB at an estimated cost of Rs.74 crore. The ROB would run for a length of 1,835 metres.

According to sources, the Highways Department has submitted to the Revenue authorities the land acquisition proposal and the district administration is actively pursuing the process.

About 4,600 square metres of private lands are to be acquired for the project apart from alienation/transfer of lands from Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalion grounds (about 18,500 square metres), the Railways (about 7,300 square metres), the P&T Quarters (about 350 square metres) and Defence lands (about 2,500 square metres).

The Highways Department hopes to complete the paper work by January. The project would take off after the land acquisition and the alienation/transfer process from the government agencies was completed, in line with the State government’s policy decision.

The proposed bridge would have seven lanes on the railway portion and would have separate arms with two to three lanes leading towards the Chennai Bypass Road, Aristo Hotel Junction, Dindigul Highway, Central Bus Stand, Railway junction, Madurai Highway and a new road to be laid near the MSP camp.

The arms towards Chennai Bypass Road and Aristo Hotel junction would have three lanes each at the higher and lower levels.

Service roads would be provided at the ground level along all important arms. The design approval for the bridge, from the Chief Engineer, Design and Investigation, Highways, is expected soon.