Semi ring road project back on track

The semi ring road project, which would connect five major national highways around Tiruchi, is finally back on the rails with the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) identifying a consultancy agency to prepare the detailed project report (DPR).

The semi ring road project, which would connect five major national highways around Tiruchi, is finally back on the rails with the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) identifying a consultancy agency to prepare the detailed project report (DPR).

The project includes the construction of an elevated corridor near the integrated bus stand coming up near Panjapur in the city, off the Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway.

The consultant was identified following a second call of the tender floated by the NHAI a few months ago. The first tender was floated in July last year but as it attracted just a single bid, the NHAI had to go for a second call. According to sources in the NHAI, a communication of acceptance has been sent to the consultancy agency and an agreement would be signed soon.

The NHAI had decided to draw a combined DPR for widening the two-lane bypass between Thuvakudi and Panjapur into a four-lane way and building a four-lane road between Panjapur and Thindukarai on Tiruchi-Karur National Highway, besides the elevated corridor.

Once completed, the nearly 45-km long bypass will become a part of a semi ring road from Thuvakudi to Thindukarai via Mathur and Panjapur, connecting the five national highways leading to Thanjavur, Karaikudi, Madurai, Dindigul, and Karur. The entire section will be an access-controlled highway for high-speed vehicular traffic, with regulated ingress and egress, NHAI sources said.

The preparation of the DPR will end years of uncertainty over Panjapur-Thindukarai bypass. Work on this stretch was initiated 15 years ago as part of the widening of the Tiruchi-Karur section by the NHAI but was stopped in 2010 after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court struck down the project as the proposed road cut across Kothamangalam, Kallikudi, and Punganur irrigation tanks in Tiruchi district. The court ordered that the road be laid without affecting irrigation sources. Subsequently, a new alignment was finalised, which caused inordinate delay in reviving the project.

Earlier this year, the NHAI decided to make the bypass between Thuvakudi and Panjapur a four-lane highway, including the proposed elevated corridor.