Rajiv Gandhi Salai

Rajiv Gandhi Salai, also known as Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) or IT Corridor, is a major road in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, beginning at the Madhya Kailash temple in Adyar in South Chennai and continuing south till Mahabalipuram in Kanchipuram district, ultimately merging with the East Coast Road. This is popularly called as the 'IT Corridor' because this stretch has become home to many IT/ITES companies. This road is State highway-49A.

The corridor, an ambitious six-lane project with service lanes and landscaping, is still in the making. The first phase — 20.1 km from Madhya Kailash junction in Adyar to Siruseri — was to have been opened by 2005. Plagued by delays, primarily due to problems in land acquisition, the stretch became operational in 2008. Feasibility studies are being conducted for phase 2 between Siruseri and Mahabalipuram.

The IT Corridor Project, is an initiative of Government of Tamil Nadu to develop the Corridor as a world-class facility and to promote a progressive and IT/ITES friendly image of Tamil Nadu. TNRDC has incorporated a special purpose organization called 'IT Expressway Ltd' (ITEL) as a wholly owned subsidiary, for domiciling the IT Corridor Project. ITEL is an investment vehicle and the TNRDC is its Managing Associate. It is responsible for project implementation and operations and maintenance of the IT Corridor.

The IT Corridor Project is being implemented in two phases – Phase-I(20 km) between Madhya Kailash Temple Junction and Siruseri, and Phase-II(26 km) between Siruseri and Mahabalipuram. The 2.1 km long ECR Link Road connecting IT Corridor at Sholinganallur and East Coast Road at Kudumiyandithoppu is also included in Phase-I. As part of the Phase-II, two bypasses would be provided in Kelambakkam and Thiruporur. With the commissioning of Phase I, the travel time from Madhya Kailash to Siruseri has been reduced by half an hour.

The entire stretch will be built as 6 lane road with additional service roads and footpaths on the sides. In phase-I, the total right of way is 41 metres and the footpaths will be built over the ducts for sewerage, drainage and other service lines. This space constraint was one of the reason Phase-I works got delayed. TNRDC has proposed to keep the width of the second phase at 60 metres. The additional land is planned for separate space for pavements and ducts to enable the simultaneous development of work for ducts and pavements unlike in Phase-I.

...
Wikipedia