The "kathipara flyover" experience.....

The "kathipara flyover" experience.....

Guess One thing which is quite striking between Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Guess??
Not lifestyle, DEFINITELY not gals and not their IT culture either.. its Traffic jams ;)


Well, I would definitely regard Chennai as the best out of the four places with regards to traffic. Forgive me for saying this without visiting Bombay, but i was not able to make a quick trip there as my visa was held up by Sarkar Raaj ;)
Gone are the days where you could 'aaram se' lie on the beach and watch the sea or take your gal to Mayajaal and drop her before 8 pm. Well, the "Traffic snarls" has become a part of our lives that we are getting used to. For me to go to my office in ramapuram which is around 21 kms from my place. It takes a solid hour on weekdays and in peak hours, it may take upto 90 minutes. And man, if it rains- I dunno how many hours it may take. The Kathipara tread near Le Meridien in Guindy is one of the busiest roads as it is a connecting corridor to the city and entry point for most of the buses and lorries coming in and going out. Its quite a ugly scene when you come in during peak hours as there are 2 main hurdles (signals) to cross. Its been many years now that the "Flyover project" is being constructed. The Flyover project has actually compounded the traffic problem as it was using lot of space and also polluting the vicinity. Add to this fact, It was running way beyond schedule and was supposed to be completed more than a year ago. The Flyover was testing my patience for sometime now.

All this changed, when I came back to office after Diwali vacation and was in for a pleasant surprise. Thats true, on 28th october when I was on my way to office I was in for this sweet surprise and had this opportunity of using the new flyover. I had thought someone had accidentally opened the gates kept to close the flyover as it was not painted completely and looked half done and only later got to know that it was given a temporary makeover so that our CM could inaugrate it. I only hope that the work which is half done completed and doesn't stay as a political gimmick for th ecoming elections.

As per my friend Wiki, The Flyover has been completed and was inaugurated by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Dr. M. Karunanidhi on 26th October, 2008 at 21:00 hrs IST. It was then open to the public. The Kathipara Grade Separator is now a signal free interchange that links IRR, Mount road, GST Road and Mount-Poonamallee Road and is expected to solve the problem of traffic snarls that is a common sight at this junction.... Yippeee !!

Let me tell you that this 6-lane 1.41km flyover has saved atleast ten minutes of my travel time and does not have any signals. Isn't that cool? This has definitely made a impact on Chennai traffic in Guindy area and would reduce the number of accidents that normally happens on this road. This has been "perfect Diwali" gift for all the people who regularly use this road including me. The flyover is quite similiar to the"Domlur flyover' in Bangalore except the difference being its length of the stretch. I also got to know that there is a park with fountain that is going to be constructed around it to give a "picturisque" outlook. Hmmm, looks like a nice thought but the problem with our politicians is all of them have nice thoughts but only few of them implement or convert those thoughts into action.

Being an optimist, I hope to see good things to follow... Jai Hind!