The widening work of the four-lane Grand Southern Trunk (GST) road (Tambaram-Tiruchy NH) from four to eight lanes gains pace. Around 25 per cent of the eight-laning of the GST road's 13.5-km stretch between Guduvanchery and Chettipunniyam (Mahindra City) has been completed, as per reports. The work began in November last.

The widening work was necessitated to facilitate the proposed construction of elevated corridor from Tambaram and Chengalpattu. The carriageways on both sides of GST road between Tambaram and Chengalpattu are divided by a median of about 2.5-5 m.The width of the road is 35-45 m. Laying two more lanes on either side is expected to create space for the passage of about 10,000 vehicles a day, thereby reducing traffic snarls, when speeds at entry points to the GST road fall to just 25-30 km per hr.

As per reports, NHAI transferred Rs 275.17 crore to the NH wing of the government for widening of the GST road from Vandalur to Chettipunniyam. In the first phase, the 5.3-km Vandalur-Guduvancheri section of the GST road was widened into six or eight-lane by reducing the width of the median and merging the main carriageway with service lane at several places.

The widening of the 13.5-km stretch between Guduvanchery and Chettipunniyam will be taken up in three stages - Guduvanchery-Maraimalai Nagar; Maraimalai Nagar-Singaperumal Koil; and SP Koil-Chettipunniyam. The three-km section from Guduvanchery to Kattankulathur has been widened into a six-lane road and works to construct a stormwater drain is on. While majority of the road is to be widened using space from the median, encroachments are being removed at Kattankulathur, Guduvanchery, Potheri, Thailavaram, and Vellanchery. At a few places, widening entails land acquisition.  

To provide an alternative route to the GST road from OMR, NHAI has proposed widening the Thiruporur-Chengalpattu two-lane into four-lane, according to sources.