Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Expressway: Project to be completed by Dec 2024

Chennai, Oct 03: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that the project for Chennai Port to Maduravoyal corridor in Tamil Nadu will be completed by December 2024.

In a series of tweets, Gadkari said,''Working towards providing seamless multimodal connectivity in New India the project for Chennai Port to Maduravoyal corridor in Tamil Nadu has been developed at an estimated cost of Rs. 5800 Crore.''

The Minister said the proposed elevated stretch of 20.5 km will be developed in 4 sections and will start inside the Chennai Port and end after the Maduravoyal interchange.

Gadkari said the project will be completed by December 2024 & it will serve as a dedicated freight corridor for Chennai bound port traffic & increase the handling capacity of Chennai Port by 48% and subsequently reduce the waiting time at the port by 6 hours.

The Chennai Port - Maduravoyal Expressway is a 20.6-kilometre (12.8 mi) long, six lane, double-decker elevated expressway under construction in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The corridor begins at Chennai Port Gate No. 10 and travels along the bank of the Cooum River till it reaches Koyambedu and along the median of NH4 thereon till it reaches Maduravoyal.

The project was sanctioned in June 2007 when the Tamil Nadu Government gave its 'in principle' approval to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the elevated expressway. The project cost then was put at Rs 1,468 crore.

In January 2009, the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, laid the foundation stone for the project but the project was put on hold for want of environment clearance. The project has got the environment clearance in February 2011, and during the same month, the port handed over a cheque for Rs 50 crore to the NHAI as part of its contribution to the project.