Highway NH 45 improves

The road travel between Trichy and Chennai became little bit more convenient with the opening of the 4 lane highway between padalur and Valikandapuram as part of NH 45. It should reduce accidents and travel time. The 31 km stretch has 2 lanes on either side with a median in between. The road also include two pedestrian underpasses in padalur and Valikandapuram.

This should improve the traffic especially commercial ones and also reduce the fear of the passengers whenever the buses and trucks do their magic weaving in the road to avoid each other.

 

Road improvement (?) in Trichy

It is that time of the year again. Rainy season is winding down. So it is time to dig up the roads again. About 95 kms of Trichy roads are going to be relaid ( for umpteenth time) under a project funded by a German Dev Bank. Many major roads are going to be part of this project and they will have drains in the side of the roads.

I am not sure whether there is any clause in the contract / tender etc. which stipulates that the roads should have atleast some lifetime which is longer than a year.  Until, then Govt construction will always have a boom in TN.

Arghh!!

 

Trichy Madurai Express Train

Trichy is getting a new train to connect itself to Madurai daily. In this year’s railway budget, out of 43 new train services , 5 new services are in TN.   The train schedule is not announced yet but can be expected that it runs according to the office schedule in both directions.

Similarly, they need to increase the speed of the trains that run to chennai from trichy. It feels like it takes awful lot of time in both direction. We will see.

 

Damaging Roads

Trichy, being in the main artery of the state, is well connected to various parts of the state by roads. Those road connection looks pretty good in a map but the real conditions are appaling and many of the roads are barely passable at best.

One of the many reasons for this condition is the constant careless attitude of various groups who dig  roads and its adjacent areas to erect a billboard or party sign or cinema cut outs. I am not talking about the PWD groups who open up holes in the road and keep them open for quite a long time.

Exnora, the public service organisation that strives to make the life better for all tiruchians, is taking this nuisance to the court. They had filed a petition with the District Munsiff Court and it had issued a permanent injunction restraining the Corporation from permitting individuals, institutions and others to set up arches or dais by digging roads.

This will take care of a part of the problem. But how many hoardings have corporation approval in Trichy is another question. I can bet that not many try and get approvals before placing hoardings and always operate in such a way, if the corporation tries to remove it they can be dealt with.

Hopefully, Exnora’s current effort reduces atleast 75%of the issues.

 

Trichy Bus Stand getting ready

Trichy bus stand work is nearing completion and expected to completed by Oct 31. The new bus Stand will contain 33 new bays, additional two wheeler parking lots and a new toilet complex. This work is just the expansion of the existing bus stand near Trichy Junction and will continue to cater the same bus routes as before. But its layout is expected to reduce the congestion in the roads in and around the bus stand. Due to more space inside the busstand, may be we don’t have to deal with the buses crowding the adjacent roads .

But this is not going to reduce the private buses parking in the near by roads ( adjacent to Hotel Femina etc.) Not sure how they will be handled.

 

Road Improvements around Trichy

Trichy, being a city well connected by roads to its neighboring cities, has passable roads in many areas. The quality of the roads are not great but then it is about the same everywhere in the state. An hour of rain will just take away the top layer of the roads exposing the stones and bringing up the potholes. But I am talking about the width of the roads here. Some roads like the one opposite Campion School in cantonment area is broad enough for three buses to travel at the same time while there are roads which are actually streets in which buses ply like the Salai Road or west bulivaar road..

But, all is not grim.. Some of the roads that connect Trichy to other cities are being expanded. Recently I traveled by Road from Trichy to Tanjavur and the road is being expanded from Thuvakudi.

For the most part, the land has been acquired and paved. The flattening and solidifying the road was going on. One striking thing that I noticed was the area was devoid of trees. The traffic was flowing smoothly but slowly due to interruptions. This Highway needs to be broadened with the amount of traffic that is expected to flow and the amount of industries that are expected in that belt. ( Now that BHEL is expanding a lot) .

Other highways that are progressing smoothly are:

Trichy – Chennai

• Work has begun on land filling and levelling of the extended portions of the highway on the Tiruchi-Chennai By-pass Road.
• Two new bridges across the Coleroon, the Cauvery rivers.
• New fly-overs will come up at Ariyamangalam (Palpannai).
• Nearly 28 per cent physical progress has been achieved on the 40-km long Tiruchi-Padalur section of the Tiruchi-Chennai Highway.

Trichy – Madurai

• Work has just commenced on the construction of the fly-over at Mannarpuram will serve as a new by-pass road to the Madurai Highway, averting the need for vehicles to go via the residential areas in Crawford.
• Over 30 per cent of the work on the 124-km long Tiruchi-Madurai section has been completed so far.

Trichy – Dindugal

• New fly-overs will come up at TVS Tollgate and Mannarpuram.

Trichy – Karur

• Yet to start anywhere near Trichy

Looks like roads around Trichy are getting better.

When will the roads within Trichy will get better ?

 

Companies’ focus on Tier II cities

We are all enamored about the focus of IT and ITES companies who are looking at the Tier II and Tier III cities. But now it appears that due to the enormous congestion in Tier I cities, the development of industrial clusters, corridors, estates, hubs and a whole lot of units in the services sector are choking themselves in this congestion and the private and public companies ( Non IT) are looking to move their facilities to smaller cities.

Nasscom has identified the following cities for rapid growth in the very neat future.

Chandigarh, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Mysore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Tiruchi.

But they also identify that the cities like Pune and Coimbatore are already overcrowded and falling into the same vicious cycle of more growth leads to more migration which leads to more growth and they think this cities are reaching a tipping point in favour of other tier II cities. The pressure on these towns has begun to show, exposing once more the inadequacies of the systems, and the inability of the private sector and the government agencies to act in tandem to promote new investment centres.

So what is the expectation of these companies ?

Better physical and social infrastructure in these towns.

So what infrastructure they are talking about ? Physical and Social infrastructure like below.

Physical infrastructure will include roads, transport, services, housing, air and rail connectivity, while social infrastructure should provide for educational institutions, health services, recreation facilities, and hotels.

Some of the companies are going away from the SEZ type development where they will build a township with all the amenities in a conclave somewhere outside the city. ( It reminds me of BHEL township.. It is so yesteryears…. We need to get over this)

Cognizant’s Managing Director and President R. Chandrasekaran says: “The primary reason for the IT industry to be attracted to a Tier II city or a Tier III city is its educational infrastructure and the resultant quality talent pool. The second important criterion is infrastructure. Availability of ‘A’ category commercial real estate space, preferably with SEZ notification, good roads, airport with good connectivity, and good hotels, is important.

Even if one or more of these may not exist initially, visible efforts to develop them in parallel become important. Otherwise, the initial enthusiasm will die down and companies may not grow in these locations.”

How very true.. It clearly says that the expectation from these companies is not that everything like great infrastructure should exist before they move in , but the public and private companies should have a plan to improve the infrastructure and should execute the same with a plan. These companies are ready to grow with the city but just needs a promise and a plan with honest execution.

Is is too tall to ask ?

I don’t think so.. This is a great opportunity for Trichy to wake up and add up / Speed up its already improving facilities.

Source: The Hindu.

 

Road rules in Trichy

Whoever traveled in Tricy Roads will balk at the word Road and Rules being next to each other in the same sentence. There is absolutely no rules on Roads in Trichy. Whoever has the more vocal horn and bigger vehicle body has the right of the way and all the other has to follow them. The town buses are amazing in the way they handle the road with their air horn. My home is very close to the road in a major artery in Trichy and am treated to their airhorns 24 hrs a day. Having a school nearby on the main road does not deter them from blaring their horns during the school hours. All the other vehicles including the ubiquitous two wheelers do their part in adding to the noise pollution.

Last week, IG of Police, Central Zone has urged that Educational institutions have the responsibility to educate students on adherence to road rules and sensitize them about discipline on roads. Awareness of road safety and traffic rules has become important in today’s context and the message was being percolated among the student community in a sustained manner, he said while speaking at the valedictory function of Tiruchi Schools Road Safety Patrol Unit here. ( Source: The Hindu)

It is a very good idea to introduce road rules in the early ages for students. But practical education will be more effective than the theoretical education. After hearing that message from the  IG of police about road discipline and traffic rule adherence, the students would have been treated to the chaos of the road and complete non adherence of road rules by adults when they return home.

Which do you think will stick to the children’s minds?

I think we should start this education and discipline from Adults and not from Children.

What do you think ?

 

Trichy Karur Highway – Update

More details are emerging on the planned Trichy – Karur Highway ( Toll Road) enhancements.

• It will strengthen and develop the present two-lane road with paved shoulders for 59 km and convert the remaining stretch into a four-lane road for the rest 21 km.
• The new project takes off from Panjappur in Tiruchi district on the NH45 B and ends at Sukkaliyur in Karur district.
  • Three bypass sections – in Tiruchi between Panjappur and Andanallur, at Kulithalai between Marudur and Melakurapalayam and at Karur between Veerarakkiam and Sukkaliyur – will mark the project, according to the NHAI Project Director, M. Thangamani.
• The Kulithalai bypass section will run parallel and proximate to the Cauvery’s left bank skirting the town and a retaining wall will be constructed all along the 10-km stretch.
• The Karur bypass section, running to 15 km, will be constructed as a four-lane stretch and will have one ROB and a flyover rising above the State Highway 74 not far from the Karur Collectorate.
• In the Tiruchi bypass section, two road over-bridges, one major bridge across the Kodingal river and two flyovers near Panjappur and Andanallur will be constructed. The special feature of the road over-bridge at Andanallur is that a portion of the “landing” would extend as a “trumpet type”’ onto the riverbed.
• Work is expected to commence in another six months and a planned end date of 2010.

Source : The Hindu

 

Trichy IT Park Update

With Trichy Airport raising to the standard of International Airport with its facilities and connections, plans for creating a ring road around Trichy that connectes Navalpattu and the passenger traffic between Trichy and Bangalore are being recogonized as a true indicator of potential IT resource availability in Trichy. According to the ELCOT director Mr. Uma Shankar, for the establishment of one million square feet built up space in the sprawling 135 acre site at Navalpattu, the ELCOT is in the process of readying architectural design.  The plan is to have smaller companies operate from the built up space and allow the bigger players to create their own campusses.

The one striking feature to this article in Hindu is, it does not give us any new or specific information about the park. All the information present in the article is what we know already. Would have been great if it could have provided some information on which companies have agreed to setup offices and what is their proposed timetable. I don’t see that anywhere in the article.

Also the ringroad plans are being developed now and no one knows how many layers of approval ( both financial and political) that it has to go through before it gets approved.  There is no timetable information here yet. 

Wikimapia is a user driven site that is trying to emulate wikipedia’s success in information. It is a peer driven site where anyone can submit information about any location in the world and it will peer reviewed and approved before becoming official.  I wish the peer review process is transparent so atleast we will know what are the resources that were used for reviewing.  Without this, I don’t put my money on the validity of the review.

I wish the Hindu article had given some specifics about the development instead of putting together all the facts known before.

Hopefully we will get some great information on our IT park’s progress very soon.