The state highways department has launched road development work at a cost of Rs 3.10 crore to make the Trichy-Thuraiyur highway safe. As the road is a crucial link for tribals and tourists to access Pachamalai hills and surrounding remote villages, the state highways department has removed encroachments for widening the highway linking Thuraiyur with district headquarters.
The officials said that the road development work was taken up under two different phases, one under Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP) and another under the instructions of the district road safety council. As the highway has steep curves with blindspots while passing through Peramangalam, profile correction work at Rs 1.50 crore was taken up by the highways department to widen and straighten the inner curves. At present, as the width of the road curve passing through Peramangalam is only 7 metres, the profile correction work will widen the stretch to 10 metres.
The 49-km road interlinking remote hamlets with the district headquarters connecting Manchanallur and Thuraiyur has a narrow carriageway passing through Pulivalam village. As there were encroachments adjacent to the highway, the department carried out an eviction drive. The retrieved space will be used for the construction of stormwater drain. The road’s carriageway near Pulivalam will be widened to 10 metres from 7 metres too.
“Blinker lights were also erected by the highways department near Puthanampatti cut road. Two-wheeler riders from rural hamlets will be relieved now,” Puthanampatti N Saravanan, a road safety activist, said. The Trichy-Thuraiyur highways are likely to be included under the Chennai-Kanyakumari industrial corridor project (CKICP) for initiating further road development projects, official sources said. “We will complete the proposed work within a month. Gravel filling is completed in the stretch taken up for the work,” a senior official with the state highways said. Electricity posts abutting the highway have to be removed to widen the stretch that connects Namakkal and Perambalur districts with Trichy.
