The Tamil Nadu Highways Department has invited bids to prepare detailed project reports for widening and extending three road structures in Chennai, targeting congestion on key corridors in north Chennai and around Koyambedu. The proposed studies cover the Vyasarpadi grade separator, Basin Bridge on Grand Northern Trunk Road and the Cooum river bridge on the Inner Ring Road.
The three consultancy assignments have a combined estimated cost of Rs. 52.60 lakh, with each study scheduled to be completed within five months. The reports will examine engineering feasibility, traffic requirements, land acquisition, utility shifting and project costs before the government decides whether to implement the proposed works.
At Vyasarpadi, the department is examining an extension of the existing Y-shaped grade separator on the Perambur side, from Vyasarpadi Market towards Ambedkar College. The existing structure branches towards Sathyamurthy Nagar and Vyasarpadi Market, but the carriageway on the market side is only 6 to 7 metres wide, creating a bottleneck on the Grand Northern Trunk Road.
The road serves several high-traffic destinations and activities, including Stanley Hospital, medical educational institutions, railway stations, goods sheds, commercial establishments and small industries. It also carries freight traffic moving towards Chennai Port. According to the report, the proposed extension is intended to improve connectivity and reduce peak-hour travel time on the corridor.
The second DPR will focus on Basin Bridge, where the existing carriageway is about 6 metres wide. The bridge crosses the Buckingham Canal, Basin Bridge railway station and Otteri nullah, and traffic queues reportedly stretch for more than 1 km during peak hours.
The feasibility study will have to examine whether the bridge can be widened while maintaining the clearances required above the maximum flood level and railway tracks. These constraints make the proposal more complex than a conventional road-widening project, as any intervention would need to account for both flood-related levels and railway infrastructure.
The third study concerns the bridge over the Cooum river on Jawaharlal Nehru Road, also known as the Inner Ring Road, near the Koyambedu-Anna Nagar West intersection. The corridor links Guindy, Vadapalani, Koyambedu, Anna Nagar, Padi and Kolathur, making it an important cross-city route.
The bridge currently has an effective carriageway width of 18.8 metres. The report identifies this as a constraint contributing to traffic queues between Koyambedu junction and the VR Mall-Thirumangalam junction during peak hours. The DPR will assess the feasibility and cost of widening the structure.
The department’s decision to commission DPRs means that the three interventions are at the study stage rather than the construction stage. The reports will establish the technical and financial basis for any subsequent administrative approval, land-related action, utility relocation or execution contract. The next formal milestone for each proposal is the completion of its five-month consultancy assignment.
