Thanjavur Road widening work resumes, to be over in a month

TRICHY: The state highways department has resumed the widening work of both the ends of

Thanjavur

Main Road, which is serving as an arterial gateway to access the city. After constructing the stormwater drain, the earthwork to widen one of the ends of the road for a length of 800 metre has started.


A legal dispute in acquiring a small portion of the land had delayed the project for some time.

The road has been accessed by heavy vehicles approaching Gandhi market from Trichy-Chennai and Trichy-Thanjavur highways besides the city buses entering the city from Thiruverumbur and Thuvakudi.

Local people had been demanding to widen Thanjavur Main Road as land required for the widening work was available. The highways department proposed a plan to widen a portion of Thanjavur Main Road in May 2018.

After some hiccups in completing the construction of the stormwater drain in late 2018, the work to widen the road came to a standstill in January 2019.

Legal hurdles in evicting the encroachments on a portion of land near Palpannai junction was said to be the reason for the delay. But now, the highway department has resumed the widening work on the left side of the road two days ago leaving the 300-metre long disputed land on the right side.

In the absence of a median, people use to park their vehicles on the widened portion of the road in many cases. Citing this reason, local people have urged the highways department to install a median on Thanjavur Main Road.

“It is a very useful project, but a median should be built along the widened stretch. Else truck drivers will park their vehicles on the widened portion,” M Sekaran, member, District Road Safety Council, said.

Thanjavur Main Road’s width is varying between nine metre and 15 metre now. The widening works will increase the road’s width by 10 metre to 18 metre.

“We will complete the widening work on the left side of the road in the first phase. After adding BT layers on the widened portion to the level of the existing road, work will begin on the right side of the road. The work will be completed

in a month

,” a senior official with the state highways department said.