After months of slow progress, the highways department is now showing clear
improvement on the 3.2 km Anna Salai flyover project by placing several spans
near the Saidapet area.
Wherever the pillars are ready, the department is placing steel spans, which are
the base structures that connect two pillars. The four-lane flyover, costing ₹621
crore, will connect Saidapet to Teynampet. So far, 40 out of 91 pillars are
completed. The ready-made spans are being brought from Mumbai and Gujarat.
“The spans are between 11 and 30 metres long, depending on the distance between
pillars. The 30-metre spans are the longest, and we are placing those first,”
said highways superintending engineer Saravana Selvan.
Out of the 91 pillars, 69 will be built over the underground metro corridor.
The engineer said the metro rail has already built strong columns that can hold
up to 1,000 tonnes. “In places where we only need to place the span on the metro’s
columns, the work is faster. But where we build foundations in the soil, the clay
needs time to settle. During the rainy season, this may slow down the work,” he
explained.