The total number of toll gates in the State has now increased to 62, with the three on the Madurai ring road set to begin collecting the user fee from November 22. In a gazette notification issued recently, the state government has authorised the Tamil Nadu Road Infrastructure Development Corporation (TNRIDC), a separate venture of the Highways department, to collect user free from the three toll gates set up on the 27.2-km Madurai ring road which has been developed into four lanes at the cost of `213 crore.
Now, motorists will be charged user fee on the Madurai ring road after a gap of four years and 10 months. The toll gates, set up by the Madurai Corporation on the ring road, had been collecting user fee for 15 years before they were closed in January 2015 following an order from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which was issued in the wake of complaints of irregularities in toll collection.
Subsequently, the ring road was handed over to the TNRIDC for widening into four lanes. Accordingly the work commenced in September 2017 and was completed recently. “The concessionaire appointed by the TNRIDC was allowed to collect user fee from the three toll gates,” said notification, adding that the locals residing in the 20-km radius would be given passes for `265 a month for non-commercial vehicles.
The 27.2-km ring road is the last leg of the Chennai-Kanniyakumari NH road to be widened into four lanes.
Before widening, the Chennai-Kanniyakumari NH road had shrunk to seven metres when it passed through Madurai. “The seven-metre road was widened into 15.2-km four lanes with medians. The pending works of the bridge will soon be completed,” said sources from TNRIDC.
So far, motorists have been charged user fee at 59 toll gates, of which 48 are maintained by the NHAI and 11 maintained by the TN Road Development Company