New road from Coimbatore to Ooty skipping Coonoor to come up in two years

COIMBATORE: In an effort to decongest traffic between Coonoor and Ooty, the State Highway Department is widening and improving the existing stretches from Katteri to Lovedale. This alternate road would help motorists who are visiting Ooty to avoid Coonoor, which is one of the busiest areas in the hill town.

Sources said that the distance from Katteri to Lovedale is 20.50 km covering Kenthala, Kattery dam, Ketti Palada Oranalli, Kollimalai, and Gandhipettai and the cost of the project is Rs 46.43 crore.

The existing Intermediate lane (MDR -Major District Roads) and Single Lane of the bituminous road (ODR - Other District Roads) would be converted into a Double lane up to 7 m width of the Carriageway. Out of the total 20.5 km, the road width for 4.5 km distance is 3.75 metres and it is around 6 metres for the remaining 16 km.

An official of the Highways Department told The New Indian Express, "Large number of vehicles make serpentine queues and create traffic congestion in Coonoor Town in peak hours of season time every year. Earlier, steps were taken by the district administration to decongest traffic by restricting vehicles coming from Mettupalayam to Ooty road via Coonoor as a single way and as well as the vehicles descending to Mettupalayam from Ooty via Kotagiri."

"However, the traffic remains a huge problem in the tourist town. This alternate route will help vehicles moving to Ooty and Gudalur without suffering from the traffic congestion in Coonoor,"  the official pointed out.

"We have proposed 138 culverts including new box culverts, pipe culverts and slab culverts in this stretch. The tender is finalised and a work order has been issued. TANGEDCO staff are shifting EB poles and the process to shift phone cables on the stretch is in progress. The work will be completed within two years," he added.

The official said that currently, there is no need to acquire land for the project. However, this will be confirmed only after the survey is completed, which is currently underway.