Continuing accidents turn the spotlight on greenfield project plan for Tiruchi-Karur Highway

The road accident causing the death of the Revenue Divisional Officer of Musiri on the Tiruchi-Karur Highway on Thursday has brought to the fore the demand for building a greenfield highway between the two cities.

Activists have expressed concern that there was no sign of accidents coming down even after the State Highways Department widened the stretch a few years ago. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had widened the Tiruchi-Karur Highway beyond Thindukarai several years ago. A bypass was to be laid between Panjapur on Tiruchi-Madurai highway and Thindukarai.

The 11-km stretch from Thindukarai to Tiruchi, with sharp and dangerous curves, was widened from its earlier width of seven metres to up to 10.5 metres under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme 2019-20. However, accidents continue unabated on the road, the most recent one claiming the life of the senior Revenue Department Officer at Kadiyakurichi near Jeeeyapuram.

Locals cite overspeeding as the main reason for accidents. Commuters traversing the stretch every day face the brunt of the problem. Accidents are frequent in Jeeyapuram and Pettavaithalai police station limits.

“The widening of the stretch does not seem have to helped bring down accidents,” said P. Ayyarappan, a member of District Road Safety Council and president, Road Users Welfare Association. There has been a number of accidents involving barricades, which are placed to force the vehicles to slow down, at various places, he said.

Conceding that there was a need to give a push to the greenfield highway project as a long term measure, Mr. Ayyarappan suggested that medians could be built wherever possible in the meantime. “There is enough space to widen the road by another two metres on either side at various stretches of the highway,” Mr. Ayyarappan said.

Once the Panjapur-Thindukarai bypass is built, traffic density is bound to increase beyond Thindukarai. Speed guns should be installed and overspeeding should be penalised. Besides, highway patrolling by the police should be intensified, he added.

Although the NHAI is preparing a detailed project report for the greenfield highway from Tiruchi to Karur, it has been progressing at a slow pace. The new alignment is planned “at an offset of 12 to 13 km from the existing highway.” However, according to sources, the DPR is expected to be completed in another 10 to 12 months.

Plea rejected

The NHAI had rejected a plea from the public to develop an alternative road between Allithurai and Mayanur Tollgate.

N. Jamaluddin, a civic activist, said the NHAI, in a reply to his petition on the matter in September 2024, had said that the task of preparing the DPR for the greenfield highway had been given to a Hyderabad agency in December 2017. “The DPR preparation is taking such a long time while fatal accidents are taking place every other week so much so that we are forced to avoid the highway. The NHAI should expedite the process,” he said.

The plan was discussed at the recent meeting of District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee by Tiruchi and Karur MPs Durai Vaiko and S. Jothimani and both had promised to take up the matter, Mr. Ayyarappan said.

At a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Durai Vaiko said he would take up the issue with the NHAI officials soon.