Chennai's GST Road To Undergo Major Widening Project, Easing Traffic Congestion

A decade after being built, one arm of the railway Road Over Bridge (ROB) at Tambaram on Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road is set to be extended, to link Shanmugam Road with GST. A government order sanctioning Rs 30 lakh for preparing a detailed project report was issued recently by the State Highways Department.

The ROB was opened in February 2011 replacing the level crossing near Tambaram railway station. It connects Velachery Main Road, GST, and Mudichur Road. The ROB has four arms on GST (two each towards Guindy and Chengalpattu) and one each on Mudichur Road and Velachery Main Road.

The ROB's ramp that extends towards Guindy ends at the intersection of Shanmugam Road and GST. The portion is 0.6 meters high from the road level. As a result, motorists from Perungalathur are forced to take a detour via Rajaji Road which is 100 meters away from the joining point of Shanmugam Road and GST, to enter Shanmugam Road and other parts of Tambaram. The detour leads to a huge vehicular pile-up in both directions of GST.