Anna Salai flyover design change made due to lack of alignment with metro stations

Work on the flyover is expected to be completed in February 2027 | Photo credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

Around the same time in 2010 as work on the Rs. 54 lakh crore Porur flyover started, road department planned to build Anna Salai flyover. While the Porur flyover was halted after 10% of the work was completed due to two large water lines coming in the way, work on the Anna Salai facility, which began in January 2024, has now slowed down at two stations. The Porur flyover was completely redesigned and was inaugurated in 2017.

It was also in 2015 that Chennai Metrorail designed membrane walls for two underground stations to withstand the load of the proposed flyover. “After we started the construction of the four-lane flyover at Anna Salai in January 2024 and reached the station points, we found that the alignment did not agree. We had to make changes in the design and instead of building three pillars with one in the middle, we have now reduced it to two pillars on each side. This saves space on the road,” explained an engineer associated with the project.

The ₹612 crore project did not come to a halt due to this design change, but instead slowed down only at stations that have a total length of 426 m. State government approval was obtained for this design change. There will be no additional costs,” he added.

“The rest of the work is going ahead despite welding problems due to interruption in gas availability. We have completed 62% of the project so far, which is scheduled to be completed by February 2027,” another engineer said.

If scoping is allowed, the source explained that 10% scoping is allowed for all infrastructure projects and in this case the variance is only about 7.2%. IIT Madras conducted third party audits for this project.

During the construction of the flyover, it was necessary to move utility networks such as power cables, water pipes, sewers and telecommunications cables at 50 foundation locations. It was necessary to move the public lighting poles along their entire length.

Out of a total of 132 fields, 42 fields are to come only to the site. Soil stabilization had to be done at 69 locations that are located above the Metrorail tunnels.

Published – 29 Aug 2026 05:30 IST