Chennai: Commuters in Adyar, Guindy and OMR may soon get relief from harrowing traffic at the Madhya Kailash junction, as the L-shaped flyover is set to be opened in the first week of Feb. The state highways dept solved two major bottlenecks—constructing the central girder at Sardar Patel Road-OMR and creating an approach road on Sardar Patel Road—which held back the 60-crore flyover project for months. A highways engineer said they are applying wet-mix on the carriageway. After it dries, they will apply the dense bituminous macadam, a type of open-graded bituminous layer used in highway construction as a binder course. “The corporation began installing streetlights, and the painting works are being done on the OMR side. We will finish by the first week of Feb,” the official said.Madhya Kailash junction witnesses 11,000 commuters per hour, with the highest number of vehicles heading from Guindy to OMR, prompting the highways department to build the L-flyover for the route. While the flyover will ease traffic at the junction, residents urged the southern railways and GCC to clear encroachments on the Buckingham Canal river bridge next to Kasturba Nagar to ease traffic further. “Vehicles from Sardar Patel Road now take a left at the junction, waiting at the signal along with others who are heading straight to Guindy. If encroachments are removed on this bridge, vehicles from Sardar Patel Road can be diverted through this stretch, and those heading to Guindy will get a straight thoroughfare,” said D Balaji of Kasturba Nagar residents welfare association.
