Much to the relief of Maduraiites, the bridge from Periyar bus stand to Railway station west entry is opened. It’s wider than the old bridge and eases the traffic to a great extent.
The other half from Periyar bus stand to Ellis Nagar is still under construction. Once completed, it will be a 4 track bridge and relives congestion on western side.
We hear a lot of infrastructure plans in & around Madurai. It is gratifying to hear new projects, but more often than not, things crawl at snail’s pace and takes decades to complete. I intend to write a series of pending/proposed infrastructure project lists, starting with Bridges in this post.
Here’s a list of proposed bridges and their present status. A long pending bridge at Shanthi Nagar (behind Fatima College) was completed last year.
Bridges:
- Thathaneri Bridge: The bridge supposed to ease the rail-road crossing on northern banks of River Vaigai. Might qualify for the longest time taken to build award (if ever there was one). It’s more than a decade and still haven’t crossed half-way mark. Current Status: Just the pillars stand aloof with couple of span completed on eastern side. The work above railway track seems to be over.
- Ellis Nagar Bridge: A main bridge in city center. The 4-lane bridge is built as 2 adjoining bridges. On western side, 2 lanes will start from TB road near Western entry of Railway junction and ends near Periyar bus stand. On the opposite direction, it starts from periyar bus stand and ends in Ellis Nagar Road near Grace Kennett hospital. One half is completed and will soon be opened (April 08?). The other part will languish for some more time.
- Palanganatham Flyover: It’s a wonder we heard only in newspapers. The design seemed confusing and roads too narrow for adequate shoulder space around the bridge landings. The shifting of Mofussil bus stand from Palanganatham reduced it’s importance. Now, with a proposed new Roundtana at Vasantha Nagar junction, which will be a mere 50m from Palanganatham junction, this project may never see the light.
- Widening Bye-Pass Road bridges: The bridge near (previously) Natraj Theatre and the one near Theekathir office across River Vaigai were proposed to be widened (read: new bridge by the side of existing bridge). It can be taken up only after Ellis Nagar Bridge is completed and opened to public.
Photo credits (Skyscrapercity forums)
The Shanthi nagar bridge (that looked like a set for S.P.E.E.D tamil version for more than a year) has been opened for public without any fanfare. There were no grand ceremony & dedications, probably due to the election code of conduct (It comes under the Madurai West constituency where by-election process in underway).
It is a big relief for sub-urban residents across Shanthi nagar, Railar nagar, Aanaiyur, Kulamangalam etc.
It took nearly 6 years to complete this bridge. The other bridge, the Thathaneri bridge along river vaigai, which also started along with this bridge is still nowhere near completion. Madurai is certainly a very poor cousin of Chennai.
It looked like a location for shooting S.P.E.E.D (tamil version)! The road over bridge across the railway line at Shanti nagar was a pending necessity. This is the road that leads to Alanganallur (remember jallikattu!).
The bridge on either side of the railway track was completed long ago
(early 2005). They even completed the tar laying. But the central part on the railway land wasn’t even started. One autorickshaw driver valiantly tried to jump over the gap but ended upside down near the railway track. That was in early 2005. The driver blamed the early morning fog (5.30 am).
Finally finally, the authorities stirred up and the central part on railway side is getting ready. Big projects like bridges progress really slow in Madurai compared to Chennai.
