Overview
- The Highways Department has issued a consultancy tender to prepare a detailed project report to link Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR) and the East Coast Road (ECR) between Sholinganallur and Kovalam.
- The DPR contract is valued at ₹14.20 lakh and requires completion within three months with topographical surveys, alignment plans, classified traffic counts, origin–destination surveys, land schedule and geotechnical investigations.
- Officials say the link is intended to shift some traffic off OMR, which carries heavy daily volumes, by using the relatively underused urban stretch of ECR to reduce congestion for motorists.
- Local residents and a former highways engineer warn that past projects stalled because of unresolved land acquisition, incomplete widening and poor maintenance, with existing connector roads reported damaged, overgrown and unlit.
- Whether the study leads to construction will depend on the DPR’s findings and on the government resolving land acquisition, funding and upkeep challenges that stalled earlier Tsunami‑funded upgrades.