Title - Corpn. to widen road for underpass

The Coimbatore Corporation has embarked on the process of widening Thair Itteri Road to facilitate the construction of an underpass by Southern Railway.Mayor S.M. Velusamy ordered the Corporation officials to undertake a survey of the road at the last Council meeting. This was in response to complaints of encroachments, though.The officials said that the field staff had surveyed the near two-km-stretch of the road, branching from the new bridge on Sivananda Colony to the Kannappan Nagar junction to identify areas for expansion. The road, identified as a scheme road, would be 60-feet wide after the completion of the work.They had marked the road boundary and also buildings that had to be removed because of encroachment. Once that was done, the Corporation would go ahead with the work. They also said that the Corporation needed to acquire land at a few places.The officials said that majority of the encroachments were on the southern side of the railway track. In all, the Corporation may be forced to remove around 30 structures, including religious establishments.Once that was done, the Railway was expected to undertake the underpass construction. It would be a coordinated work between the two government agencies – the Railway and the Corporation. The former would undertake the work on railway land and the latter on Thair Itteri Road.

Sources in the Railway said that the underpass would be 6.5 m deep and 12 m wide. It had floated tenders for the same and the work was expected to begin soon after the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder.

Once the underpass is ready – at present there is a level crossing – it is expected to serve as an alternative route for people moving from Sanganoor Road, Gandhipuram, Sivananda Colony and Nallampalayam.