13.3-km Elevated Corridor Planned on ECR from Tiruvanmiyur to Uthandi

The Tamil Nadu State Highways Authority (TANSHA) has invited tenders for the building of a 13.3-km four-lane elevated corridor along the East Coast Road, connecting Tiruvanmiyur and Uthandi. Designed as a measure to ease congestion on what is one of the busiest stretches in Chennai, the project also includes widening an additional 1.82 km of at-grade road to six lanes with paved shoulders, covered drains, and footpaths.

Starting at West Avenue Road near the junction of LB Road in Tiruvanmiyur, the elevated corridor will run all the way up to Uthandi. The execution of the project will be under a Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), which ensures mixed support from the state and private investment for the faster implementation of the project.

As proposed in the feasibility report, the corridor will have a deck width of 17.25 metres for two carriageways with a vertical clearance of 5.5 metres. For seamless connectivity, series access ramps have been planned in both directions.

For the Uthandi-bound movement, access will be provided to the corridor via up-ramps at LB Road and Neelangarai, while exit options at Neelangarai and Uthandi. On the other hand, for the Tiruvanmiyur-bound flow, entry ramps shall be available at Uthandi, Akkarai, and Neelangarai, along with an exit at Neelangarai, Tiruvanmiyur-restricted regional transport office (RTO) and West Avenue Road. Each of these entry-exit ramps will be two lanes wide at seven metres.

The objective is to alleviate increasing traffic volumes on the ECR, suffering for ages with bottleneck challenges owing to urbanization, residential developments, and ever-rising vehicular movement towards the IT hubs and coastal neighbourhoods. The corridor may further help in pedestrian safety along travel corridors and thereby lead to the shortening of travel times between the city and the southern suburbs with better road width, facilities for pedestrians, and drainage arrangement.

The officials explained that the corridor is being promoted as a game changer in road infrastructure connectivity with several entertainment and residential areas along the IT corridor of Old Mahabalipuram Road. Realistically, once in place, the corridor could relieve submerged traffic at ground level with much quicker and safer connectivity along the ECR.