After widening the highway on the Thuraiyur–Uppilliyapuram segment, the Highways Department has now taken up the task of widening the minor culverts which were built about three decades ago.
The widening has been necessitated for ensuring safety to the speeding vehicles either overtaking from behind or oncoming from the opposite direction.
At least six culverts are being widened on this stretch, without hindering the flow of traffic on this busy highway which connects Thuraiyur with Salem, Namakkal, Puliyancholai, Pachamalai, and Attoor.
The old length of the culvert was 7.5 metres which is now being widened to 12.5 metres.
Here again, the culvert is divided into two equal parts for ensuring free flow of traffic. While work is executed on the first half, the second half is used for free flow of traffic. “We have set up alert signals on either sides of each culvert, to avoid accidents, particularly at night,” says an official source.
While brick work has been used in the previous construction, concrete reinforcement is being used now.
