A section of Royapettah High Road now sports a stark look

Work on demolishing one half of the flyover connecting Dr. R.K. Salai and Thiru-Vi-Ka Salai intersection ran its course. The demolition work was initiated in January 2024 for the construction of an underground Metro Rail station for CMRL’s phase II project. Some memories from old-time residents

For long-time residents of the locality, a stretch of Royapettah High Road (near Ajantha bus stop) should now bring a rush of nostalgia, one tinged with a sense of loss.

Recently, work on demolishing one half of the flyover connecting Dr. R.K. Salai and Thiru-Vi-Ka Salai intersection ran its course. The demolition work was initiated in January 2024 for the construction of an underground Metro Rail station for CMRL’s phase II project.

Opened in May 2000, the mini-flyover was among nine projects that came up in Chennai to address the growing congestion on this section resulting from increasing volume of traffic.

According to The Hindu Archives, nine “mini flyovers” were proposed in 1998 to decongest the roads they were meant for. The report says that “land acquisition proceedings” was avoided in these projects.

The significant part of all the projects was that there would be no land acquisition, the flyovers being supported by single columns, says the report.

The other mini-flyovers include the one at Music Academy, Sardar Patel Road-Gandhi Mandapam Junction, Pantheon Road-Montieth Road junction and TTK Road-CP Ramaswamy Road.

As per a report in The Hindu, work on the underground station will take three years, following which CMRL will reconstruct the flyover and throw it open for the public. Another flyover that will also be partly razed is the one at Adyar.