Widening of ECR from Thiruvanmiyur to Akkarai picks up pace 

With tenders being floated for shifting electric poles and transformers, widening of the East Coast Road (ECR) from Thiruvanmiyur to Akkarai is picking up pace.

With tenders being floated for shifting electric poles and transformers, widening of the East Coast Road (ECR) from Thiruvanmiyur to Akkarai is picking up pace. Contractors will get up to three months to shift the lines.

The Highways Department is dismantling structures on properties that have been acquired in Kottivakkam, Palavakkam and Sholinganallur. “Once the buildings are removed, the contractors will construct storm-water drains on these stretches. In places where the buildings have already been removed, drain construction work is under way,” said a source.

A few trees along the road have to be removed. Acquisition of land for the six-lane project had been a long-drawn affair going for over a decade because of the large number of land parcels involved.

Widening of the East Coast Road in Kottivakkam and Palavakkam is expected to be completed first. This would be followed by the 6-km long stretch in Sholinganallur where the drain construction work was yet to be taken up. Driving vehicles on the entire tretch had become difficult since it had a lot of pedestrian movement. “The road is not uniformly wide at all places. Some reaches are narrow, some wide and construction or demolition is happening in others. If the widening work is completed, it would help in faster and safer movement of vehicles,” said K. Natarajan, a resident of Palavakkam.