Padi Rail Overbridge expansion: Solving Chennai’s biggest traffic jam

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu State Highways Department has launched a major ₹139-crore widening project at the Padi Rail Overbridge (ROB) on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai (Inner Ring Road) to ease one of Chennai’s worst traffic bottlenecks.

The project will expand the existing three-lane bridge into a dual five-lane structure and widen the narrow approach roads towards Padi. These roads have long caused severe congestion for commuters travelling between north and south Chennai.

Officials said the highways department will handle road widening and structural improvements within its land limits, including laying road sections and installing girders. The segment crossing the railway tracks will be executed by Southern Railway, which is sourcing girders from its Arakkonam yard. Certain electrical lines will also be shifted to facilitate construction.

Upon completion, the bridge width will increase from 27 metres to 53 metres, featuring five lanes in each direction along with pedestrian footpaths on both sides. Approach roads and adjacent stretches will also be widened to five lanes with a central median, aimed at improving traffic flow and reducing accidents.

The project is scheduled for completion by April.

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The Padi ROB, located between Villivakkam and Korattur railway stations, currently forms a major choke point on the Inner Ring Road. While most of the corridor between Manali and Guindy already has five lanes on each side, the 1.1-km stretch near Padi narrows to just two lanes near the railway station, causing frequent traffic snarls.

In addition to the bridge widening, the highways department is constructing two U-shaped service roads beneath the Villivakkam ROB at an estimated cost of ₹14 crore. Each road will be 7.5 metres wide, enabling motorists to take U-turns towards North Korattur and Padi without entering the busy intersection.

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Once completed, the service roads are expected to ease congestion near the North Korattur signal and allow light vehicles to bypass the junction, improving overall traffic circulation.

Meanwhile, other stretches of the Inner Ring Road are also being expanded under separate projects managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). 

IANS