Chennai: The delay in the construction of flyovers in three places in the temple town of Kanchipuram is adding to the traffic congestion.
The existing bridges at Walajabad and Sevilimedu cannot be used when the river Palar floods during the monsoon rains and the works to build flyovers near them have just commenced.
Kanchipuram is a historic town with numerous temples drawing thousands of devotees every day and the footfall goes up several times during temple festivals and holidays.
Besides, a large number of people visit the town during the wedding season to buy silk sarees.
Due to its proximity to Chennai, the district is getting industrialised and thousands of people are travelling from the town to Chennai and the industrially-developed areas like Sriperumbudur, Padappai and Oragadam.
The infrastructure development of Kanchipuram town has not kept pace with the economic development and the rise in population of Kanchipuram.
The Palar flows on the southern side of the town and the free movement of vehicles is hit during the monsoon when the river is flooded.
Three high-level bridges were planned to decongest the town and two of them were planned across the Palar to help the flow of vehicles.
One of the high-level bridges, planned at a cost of Rs. 52 crore, was proposed in Walajabad in 2021 but the work commenced only in February.
The monsoon rains are expected to stop the construction for a few weeks and the work could be resumed only next year.
It will benefit 20 villages around Walajabad as it will be an all-weather bridge unlike the existing one which gets inundated during floods.
The second high-level bridge comes up at Sevilimedu, near Kanchipuram, since the existing high-level bridge is frequently damaged, needing repair work since heavy vehicles use the road round-the-clock.
The Sevilimedu high-level bridge work formally commenced in February and it will have a two-lane layout and it is expected to be completed only in 2028.
The third high-level bridge is planned as a rail overbridge at Karyan gate in the town. It is a busy rail crossing and the vehicles have to wait on both sides of the track for a long time for lack of a bridge to cross the tracks.
The work has not taken off and it is still in the planning stage.
The three high-level bridges are key to the development of Kanchipuram to help it keep pace with the rising population and industrial growth and people want the works to be speeded up and completed at the earliest to help free flow of traffic.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
