Kathipara Junction

Kathipara Grade Separator
கத்திப்பாரா சந்திப்பு

Kathipara flyover, one of the largest cloverleaf interchanges in South Asia
Location
Chennai, India
Coordinates: 13°00′26″N 80°12′13″E / 13.00727°N 80.20371°ECoordinates: 13°00′26″N 80°12′13″E / 13.00727°N 80.20371°E
Roads at
junction:		 Grand Southern Trunk Road (NH 45)
Inner Ring Road
Anna Salai
Mount-Poonamallee Road
Construction
Type: Cloverleaf grade separator
Lanes: 6
Opened: 2008[1]

Kathipara Junction is an important road junction in Chennai, India. It is located at Alandur, (St.Thomas Mount), south of Guindy, at the intersection of the Grand Southern Trunk Road (NH 45), Inner Ring Road, Anna Salai and the Mount-Poonamallee Road. Kathipara flyover is the largest cloverleaf flyover in the whole of Asia.

Kathipara Flyover, Chennai

Kathipara Grade Separator

Kathipara Junction, Chennai, a bird's-eye view

The junction used to be a roundabout and was the site of the statue of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. A cloverleaf grade separator has been constructed as part of the NHDP to ease traffic congestion at the junction. The structure was built at an estimated project cost of INR 4,860 million with an initial deadline of March 2007. It is the first of three grade separators being built on the Inner Ring Road to improve connectivity between the various National Highways radiating from the city, the other two being the one on Koyambedu junction (NH 4) near the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and the one at Padi Junction (NH 205).

A part of Kathipara's Cloverleaf Grade Separator as seen early in the morning
Kathipara junction before the construction of flyover

Opening

Originally scheduled for completion in March 2007, the main span of the flyover connecting Inner Ring Road and GST Road was opened to traffic on 9 April 2008 and was fully completed and opened to the public on 26 October 2008.

Completion of construction

The main span of the flyover along with the loops that are in its final stages

The Flyover has been completed and was inaugurated by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on 26 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.

This, being the first major interchange when coming from the Chennai International Airport towards the city, is expected to reduce the travel time to the city which is otherwise delayed during peak hours which causes snarls. As of today all the road works have been complete, but they are yet to take up the landscaping of the space in between the loops which includes development of park like features and fountains and relocating the Jawaharlal Nehru Statue to the center of one of the loops. The landscaping work is expected to start once the Chennai Metro Rail work is complete.

Landscaping

Due to inordinate delays and cancellation and re-issuing of tenders for the lines that overlap the Kathipara junction, Metro Rail has sought time up to October 2014 to vacate the space under the grade separator. Landscaping work worth INR 15 million on the 40,000 sq m area will be taken up after that. The earlier date for completion was set to July 2013.[2]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kathipara Junction.
  1. ↑ "New traffic arrangement comes into effect at Kathipara junction". Chennai. The Hindu. 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  2. ↑ Ramakrishnan, Deepa H. (22 April 2013). "Koyambedu flyover to geta touch of green". The Hindu (Chennai: The Hindu). Retrieved 23 Apr 2013.