Six underpasses and one flyover on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway covering Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts will be completed by April.
NHAI officials said that subway work is in progress at Nandiyalam, Puttuthakku villages in Ranipet; Kanderi and Vetturvan villages in Vellore; Vengili and Girisamudiram villages in Tirupattur.
Each underpass will be 4.5 metres high and 20 metres wide.
A one-way flyover towards Bengaluru is being built at the accident-prone triangular junction of the stretch in Arcot town near Palar river.
Officials said that since land acquisition would take a longer time, they had decided to build a flyover that would be 35 metres long and 11 metres wide at a cost of ₹28 crore.
“The facilities are being built at ‘black spots’ to prevent accidents. They will also provide easy and safe means for residents to travel to nearby towns without using the carriageway,” said an NHAI official. As per the plan, each underpass will accommodate two-wheelers, cars and buses. The facilities will help reduce the number of accident-prone ‘U’ turn spots on the carriageway.
“The facilities will help reduce travel time on the route. Ambulances can reach the victim on time as against the arrangement where vehicles have to travel through narrow service lanes, which are potholed with dim streetlights,” said C. Prakash, a motorist.
Officials said each vehicular underpass on the highway should be built at a distance of 1.5 km to ensure safety while crossing. They must come up at key intersections and crowded spots such as food joints.
Currently, the highway between Krishnagiri and Walajapet (Ranipet district), to a distance of 148 km, has 17 such underpasses.
