Soon, take ECR from city to reach Kumari

CHENNAI: Consider this: a breezy ride by the sea from Chennai to Kanyakumari on the scenic East Coast Road (ECR). Following Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s announcement on Wednesday for upgrading road infrastructure projects in the State at a cost of Rs1,200 crore, such a journey is soon set to become reality. As part of the upgradation, the ECR would be extended from Chennai to Tuticorin up to Kanyakumari at a cost of Rs 257 crore and bypass roads for Sivaganga and Edappadi would be constructed at a cost of `1 crore each, in addition to the construction of many new bridges across the State, Jayalalithaa said.Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, the CM said the ECR between Chennai and Tuticorin was upgraded in many stages. However, there has been a long-pending demand that the ECR be extended up to Kanyakumari. Considering the advantages of extending the ECR up to Kanyakumari, the government has decided to widen the 113 km stretch of road up to Anjugramam village and improve a two-way lane at a cost of `253 crore. In the course of this project, nine bypass roads, three big bridges and one railway over bridge would be constructed, Jayalalithaa said.Similarly, with a view to ease traffic congestion in Sivaganga and Edappadi towns, by-pass roads for a stretch of 10.6 km and 8.6 km, respectively, would be laid along the two towns. Twenty three new railway over bridges and under bridges would be constructed in nine districts — Kanchee­puram, Vellore, and Coimbatore (four), Villupuram and Salem (three), Tiruvallur (two) and one bridge each in Ramanathapuram, Dindigul and Tirunelveli, she said.