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Work to widen the stretch of the Grand Southern Trunk Road (GST Road) between Guduvanchery and Chettipunniyam in Chennai to eight lanes is likely to be completed by May 2023. The Tambaram-Guduvanchery stretch has already been widened. According to sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which has the road under its control, around 50% of the work has been completed. The National Highways wing of the State Highways Department is carrying out the work at an estimated cost of Rs 42.14 billion, with the NHAI bearing the cost. The width of the four-lane road is being doubled, in addition to the construction of service lanes and stormwater drains and extension of culverts. Officials in the State Highways Department said of the five sections in the road, work on two had been completed and one more was nearing completion. Of the remaining 13.5 km, the work is in various stages, with only the bituminous concrete layer to be laid in the stretch between Singaperumalkoil and Chettipunyam. An engineer associated with the project said the project faced issues, including a shortage of aggregate material needed for formation of the road, shortage of labour, continuous traffic, the need to shift utilities and waterlogging on the right side of the road due to rain. Residents of the area said since the road had become very broad after the widening, pedestrians and local motorists were finding it very difficult to cross it. “The junctions at Kilambakkam, Thailavaram, Nandivaram Road, Maraimalai Nagar and Chettipunyam have to be improved to ensure pedestrian safety. Steps must be taken for smooth integration of local traffic with the flow in the main carriageway,� they said. See also: Steel Slag Roads: Techno-economic and environmental benefitsMinistry starts mandatory training course on highway DPRs