Much-awaited flyover at Madhya Kailash junction set to ease flow of traffic

The Madhya Kailash junction in Adyar, which is one of the busiest traffic junctions in the city, will soon witness smooth traffic movement after the completion of the ‘L’-shaped flyover that is being constructed by the State Highways Department at a cost of ₹60.68 crore. Of the 19 spans of the 652 metre-long flyover, 17 had been constructed and one more would come up soon. The approach ramp, which is 120 metre-long, on the OMR side has been completed and work is underway to build the 80 metres-long ramp on the Sardar Patel Road side.

“We are awaiting police permission to construct the final span, the crucial one over the junction and one that is 35 metre-long. We need to divert four lanes of incoming traffic into two lanes. We are seeing if additional space can be obtained from the MRTS station. If the weather permits, we hope to finish the work by December,” explained a source in the Highways Department.

Even as the two spans are to be placed, the Greater Chennai Corporation has taken up the electrification work on the flyover as the department is installing the poles.

Though the junction connects Sardar Patel Road with Rajiv Gandhi Salai, a gateway to the IT Corridor, it remains a painful experience for motorists who wait at the traffic signal to turn into the arterial road.

Paul Perinban, working in a company in Siruseri and residing in Anna Nagar, said crossing the Madhya Kailash junction to take the IT Corridor and cross the Thiruvanmiyur junction itself would take a minimum of 30 minutes during morning and evening peak hours. To avoid these waits, he has instead started using the southern arm of the Inner Ring Road extension to reach his office on Rajiv Gandhi Salai.

P. Vijaya Kumar, Joint Traffic Police Commissioner (South), said though the City Traffic Police are yet to finalise the traffic arrangements in the new flyover at the Madhya Kailash junction, it would definitely bring a relief to motorists. City Traffic Police were doing a traffic study of not only this junction, but on the entire traffic congestion prevailing till Thiruvanmiyur to understand and regulate the traffic, he added. He said once the flyover was completed, and the presence of the two ‘U’ shaped flyovers located near Indira Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur railway stations, there was a possibility of traffic congestion getting shifted to Thiruvanmiyur junction. This would be a challenge as vehicles would be able to drive freely up to the junction.

He said: “To address this challenge, the traffic police have requested for additional space from Chennai Metro for widening the Thiruvanmiyur junction and also shifting the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus stop a few distance away to enable a free flow of traffic.” Mr. Vijaya Kumar said the new flyover could be flexibly used similar to the flyover on Sardar Patel Road, where both single- and two-way traffic are allowed according to the traffic flow during morning and evening peak hours.

(With inputs from Deepa H. Ramakrishnan)

EOM