Highways authority plans 2 expressways for TN

Tamil Nadu may get two expressways, linking Chennai and Coimbatore with the IT capital, if plans of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) come to fruition.

Work on the upgrade of 6,500 km of four-lane roads into six lane-roads has also begun, according to Mr P. Manivannan, Project Director, NHAI, Coimbatore.

Speaking at a customer interface as part of ‘Glow Coimbatore' initiative, jointly organised by

The Hindu and the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Coimbatore, Mr Manivannan said work on the Golden Quadrilateral highway project linking the four metros has almost been completed and the North-South and East-West corridor projects has also started. He said as part of the National Highway Development Programme, expressways for a distance of 1,000 km have been planned, with the first in India built between Ahmedabad and Vadodara in Gujarat. The Bangalore-Chennai expressway project has been cleared and NHAI was ‘exploring the possibility' of proposing an expressway project between Coimbatore and Bangalore.

He said conversion of four-lane roads into six-lane roads on the Chengapalli-Coimbatore stretch of the national highway (Salem-Coimbatore segment) and making four lanes on the highway from Madukkarai to Walayar (part of the Salem-Kochi national highway) for a length of 54.8 km at a cost of Rs 852 crore was expected to be completed by 2013.

Mr M. Krishnan, President, ICCI, land for laying roads should be acquired by paying the compensation according to new proposals of the Government: four times the ‘guideline value' for rural areas and twice the value for urban areas.

Mr R.R. Balasundaram, Vice-President, ICCI, said the proposal to develop the Coimbatore- Sathyamangalam stretch of national highway 209 as a two-lane highway was unacceptable and wanted this segment to be upgraded into a four-lane one like the Dindigul to Coimbatore section of the highway.

Mr K.V. Prasad, Chief of Bureau, The Hindu , Coimbatore, said the tardy pace of road works around the city has caused resentment among users.