Chennai Peripheral Ring Road to be strengthened to ease traffic on western, southern metropolitan region

CHENNAI: The Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (CPRR), which is already under construction, is set to be reinforced by a proposed fifth orbital ring aimed at easing pressure on the fast-growing western and southern edges of the Chennai metropolitan region, according to I Jayakumar, the special officer of Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). This is a part of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) in the long run, as we expect the city to widen towards the west with the proposed airport at Parandur taking shape, he added. A central element of the plan is a new link from Arambakkam to the Chennai-Tiruttani Highway in Ramanjery, forming part of a wider orbital system that will connect with the Chengalpattu-Kancheepuram National Highway (NH132B) and the Kancheepuram-Tiruttani State Highway (SH58). Both corridors are expected to be widened to four or six lanes, according to the CMP. The expanded orbital ring is intended to serve emerging growth centres in Tiruttani, Arakkonam and Kancheepuram, where planners have recorded steep increases in commuter flows and rising interdependencies with Chennai. According to the CMP, the new ring structure will be crucial for absorbing projected traffic volumes and redistributing long-distance movement away from congested city corridors. Further, the orbital project forms part of a wider effort to reshape the Chennai Metropolitan Areas (CMA) road hierarchy. The CMP proposes 416km of new arterial and sub-arterial roads, based on a travel-demand model that maps current traffic patterns, congestion hotspots and gaps in accessibility. The modelling has identified several missing links where new connections could significantly reduce travel times. The proposals also mark a decisive push to strengthen the ring-radial network across the expanded CMA. Without this restructuring, the metropolitan road system is likely to struggle in supporting population and employment growth in new urban clusters and peri-urban zones. Alongside the orbital expansion, a set of new radial links has been prioritised to boost connectivity and road density in outlying areas. These include a link from Ambattur Industrial Estate to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) at Paruthipattu; the Outer Chennai Industrial Corridor (OCIC) connection from Mannivakkam on the ORR to Manampathy; the Karunguzhi-Poonjeri road; and new access routes to the proposed greenfield airport at Parandur. The road-building programme is designed to complement major public transport investments, ensuring that feeder access improves as the citys mobility network becomes more multimodal, Jayakumar said. Together, the orbital ring, missing links and new radial corridors represent one of citys most extensive transport upgrades in decades.