Work on the bridge across the surplus channel of the tank at Thirumudivakkam is nearing completion. The water course cuts across the Pallavaram-Thiruneermalai-Thirumudivakkam Road.
“It was a pipe culvert earlier and the stretch was flooded in 2015 and 2017 since the culvert could not carry the excess water, which is why we have converted it into a minor bridge with six spans. This will allow a two-way traffic,” said a source in the Highways Department, which took up the work with an estimate of ₹1.8 crore.
Although the work began in 2020, lockdown delayed the project. “We have already allowed two-way traffic on the side that has been completed. The last span is to be taken up shortly. It is likely to take a month to finish the work,” said an engineer associated with the project.
Since the bridge connects the Thirumudivakkam industrial estate and is near the Chennai Outer Ring Road, it witnesses high traffic. Around 20,000 passenger car units use the stretch making it imperative for the upgradation from a small pipe culvert.
K. Sundar of Pallavaram said that it was good to see the bridge getting completed. He said that lighting in the locality, especially the roads that connected the ORR, needed to be improved.
The department was finishing work on another minor bridge at Balaji Nagar on the Tambaram-Velachery Road. The cost of the work, which would allow excess rainwater to be drained into the Pallikaranai Marsh, was estimated to be ₹2 crore.