Flyover holdup has locals fuming at railway crossing

CHENNAI: A long delay in opening a road over-bridge (RoB) connecting Manali and Thiruvottiyur has local residents seething while waiting at the railway crossing it was supposed to allow them to vault over.
The highways department and Southern Railway have completed construction of the flyover between Thiruvottiyur Basin Road (Mattu Mandhai) and Manali at a cost of Rs 47 crore.sThe department and the railways planned the 550m-long and 13.2m-wide viaduct on what had been a longstanding demand from residents to help them avoid having to wait at the railway crossing and to prevent accidents at the spot. It has a median, crash barriers and footpaths.
“The government issued the order for the project in 2010 but the highways departments and the railways started work only in 2014,” said V Sampathraj a resident of Theradi, Thiruvottiyur. “There were problems with land acquisition but now that the authorities have completed work on the bridge and it is ready for use, we cannot fathom why it is not open to the public.”
He said officials had workmen place stone slabs and other obstacles at both ends of the overpass to ensure that motorists do not use the road. Motorists and other commuters now have to take a circuitous route of 12km to go from one side of the bridge to the other.
Former fish eries minister and DMK leader K P P Samy visited the site and urged the government to open the bridge at the earliest. He said if it failed to do so, his party would organise a protest.
Members of the Left parties also showed their displeasure by sticking posters on the finished RoB, stating that the delay in opening the bridge has severely affected workers employees of companies with offices in Manali and in localities further west and south of the city.
“Schoolchildren, office-goers and workers are put to trouble because the bridge is yet to be opened,” Basin Road resident P Sumathi said. “None of us know why there has been a long delay to inaugurate the bridge.”
Sumathi said schoolchildren from Thiruvottiyur have to walk via the 12-km route to Manali and, as a consequence, find it difficult to reach on time.