After rumbling through Anna Nagar, Jawaharlal Nehru Road and other parts of city, the metro rail juggernaut will invade Anna Salai by the end of this month. Police are gearing up to introduce changes in traffic flow, as Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) will begin preliminary work on the underground station at LIC at the end of February.

“First, a guide wall will be built to prevent the soil from collapsing. Work on the stations will soon follow,” said a CMRL official. At the other end of Anna Salai, in Saidapet, work for the station has started. Four stations will come between Saidapet and LIC — Thousand Lights, Gemini flyover, Teynampet and Nandanam signal.

“We are studying the best way to accommodate the work. The work on all stations will start and progress simultaneously,” said additional commissioner of police (traffic) Sanjay Arora.

Commuters using the arterial road say it would be better if the work is done in a phased manner. “Even with six lanes, Anna Salai gets congested. If all the work starts at the same time, it is bound to inconvenience us,” said M V Sridhar, a regular commuter.

Police, however, say the trouble will be minimal. “It is better to finish all the work at one shot than put up with the changes for a longer period. It is in the interest of the people,” said Arora.

Police may reduce the number of lanes step by step as the work progresses. “We’ll try keeping two-way traffic as long as possible. But eventually it will become one-way. We are looking at parallel roads and bylanes to divert traffic,” said Arora. “The changes will be implemented by the end of this month,” he said.

The problem will occur only where the stations are coming up. “The roads between the stations will not be affected much as most of the work will happen underground,” said Arora.

CMRL officials said work on Anna Salai will finish by 2015. The construction of guide wall is going on at Chennai Central and the government estate.

NEW DIRECTIONS
Police are gearing up to introduce changes to traffic flow on Anna Salai to allow the preliminary work on underground stations Most stretches will become one-way since continuing with two-way traffic with just two lanes will lead to congestion

As of now, General Patters Road and Whites Road may be one-way for a circular flow of traffic from Anna Salai
Works will cause problem only where the stations are being built. Works on the rest of the metro line will remain underground.

-times of india