Residents need Highways Division to widen CTH Street

Residents residing alongside the busy Chennai Tirupathi Excessive (CTH) Street from Padi to Thiruninravur have urged Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to direct the Highways Division to take up widening of the 22-km street.

The street, with its many junctions, turns and curves, and 1000’s of business institutions and industrial items, stays a four-lane huge facility since 2013, although greater than 1.5 lakh autos use it daily.

“On busy days, it takes us practically two hours to cowl the stretch. Motorists can’t journey at greater than 30 kmph on this slender street. Smaller autos must jostle for area with the heavy vans that use this street from the economic items in Ambattur, Padi and close by industrial estates. Accidents are frequent on this street as there’s not sufficient policing,” mentioned R. Raghunathan, a resident of Ambattur.

Client activist and Pattabiram resident T. Sadagopan mentioned roads akin to OMR, ECR, and the Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial Street had taken a lot much less time to widen. “Although this street connects us to Tirupati, an necessary temple city within the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh, we wouldn’t have a single bus service to that State on this street. It’s also possible to see uncooked sewage flowing alongside this State Freeway,” he mentioned.

“Day-after-day, new business institutions are developing on either side. However no provisions are being made for creating parking areas. In consequence, autos are parked haphazardly in entrance of those institutions. We don’t suppose any planning permissions are being granted to those outlets. Building has been taken up at places the place the Highways Division had made markings,” he added.

Saravanan, a resident of Ambattur, mentioned the street didn’t have a correct stormwater drain and lots of stretches had been flooded throughout rain. “Solely haphazard work is taken as much as restore normalcy. Each election, we increase the difficulty of widening this street, however nothing occurs. Native merchants have been objecting to the widening, and the Highways Division has been nearly sustaining the street,” he mentioned.

The stretch, which was a part of the Chennai-Tirupati Nationwide Freeway, was handed over to the State Highways Division by the Nationwide Highways Authority of India, which mentioned widening it could not be potential due to urbanisation.

In April 2013, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa introduced that the street can be widened right into a six-lane facility. The State authorities additionally allotted ₹168 crore for land acquisition. In December 2013, the Highways Division took up work to widen the street finish to finish wherever land was out there, at a value of ₹98 crore. The street has stays largely unchanged since then.

Highways Division sources mentioned the proposal to widen the street was beneath lively consideration.