Sardar Patel Road to be widened at a cost of ₹45 crore

The State Highways Department will soon call for tenders to widen Chennai’s Sardar Patel Road. The estimated cost of adding two additional lanes, building near footpaths for pedestrians, and constructing a soundproof wall for the Cancer Institute (WIA) will be approximately Rs. 45 crores.

Sources in the department said that the road is an important one that connects two important roads — the IT Corridor and Anna Salai — that are each six lanes wide.

“It is pertinent that this road with several academic institutions and memorials, has a similar width. Already, due to the construction of the flyover at Madhya Kailash junction, the carriageway beneath has been widened for about 400m. The remaining portion from IIT Madras to Anna Salai will become broader to carry more vehicles,” explained an official.

The work is to be taken up in two phases, with phase 1 running to a length of 1.70 km from IIT Madras to Raj Bhavan to be the first. The remaining 0.80 km from the Raj Bhavan to Anna Salai will be taken up later. A couple of months ago, Highways Minister E. V. Velu had taken upon himself to check the width of the road after inspecting the flyover.

The road has wide footpaths just after Gandhi Mandapam to accommodate the large number of pedestrians entering/exiting the memorials and the educational institutions. However, the footpaths near the hospital and IIT Madras need widening.

“They are extremely narrow and even if people walk in single file, it is nearly impossible to keep off the road. We see patients and their attenders walking on the side of the road ignoring the flowing traffic. It would be great if the footpath in that stretch is also widened,” said Mary, who works at a store in Adyar. Highways officials said that this portion was also in their scope of work.

A retired official of the department recalled that way back in 2005-06 when the Chennai Metropolitan Development Plan (CMDP) was launched, it was proposed to widen the road and an administrative sanction was obtained from the State government for Rs.6 crore. “We had also completed the land plan schedule. However, since the road belonged to the Chennai Corporation, the plan was dropped. We formed bus bays at Anna University and near the memorials at that point,” he recalled.