The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has revived plans to eliminate three black spots on the Trichy-Chennai National Highway (NH) passing through Trichy city.As technical constraints hampered previous efforts to make the highway safe, the Trichy project implementation unit (PIU) of NHAI has decided to incorporate the suggestions of a Mumbai-based road safety consultant to develop new infrastructure at the black spots situated within a 10km stretch of the highway.
The black spots identified on the Trichy-Chennai NH, which connects southern and central districts with Chennai through Trichy city, are Kollidam Y road junction, Sanjeevi Nagar junction and G Corner junction.
According to the current plan, a vehicular underpass (VuP) at Sanjeevi Nagar is proposed as a suitable solution to avoid accidents while crossing the NH. The highway traffic would use the elevated road while the local traffic shall access the underpass to cross the highway.
A separate vehicular underpass (VuP) is suggested to make Y road junction near Thiruvanaikoil safe. For the G Corner junction, NHAI considers vehicular overpass (VoP), a bridge crossing the highway as a solution for vehicles reaching and leaving Ponmalai to skip the congested areas.
“Engineering complications such as difference in elevation between two ends of Sanjeevi Nagar junction will be resolved through road safety experts. By April 2024, we would have completed the comprehensive report to eliminate black spots on the NH,” a senior NHAI official told.
The authority will submit a detailed report to its headquarters seeking funds. “The proposed VoP can link the service road of the NH branching from TVS Tollgate junction with Ponmalai, thereby bypassing the NH,” Surya Narayanan, research scholar (transportation engineering) at IIT Jammu, said.