A private ambulance overturned on Chennai’s Tambaram-Velachery Road after hitting rain-covered potholes on Tuesday night, injuring its driver and a nurse and exposing the continuing safety risks created by unfinished pipeline works along the busy corridor.
The ambulance was not carrying a patient when the accident occurred. Residents helped turn the vehicle upright and arranged for the injured driver and nurse to be taken to Tambaram Government Hospital in a 108 ambulance.
The 17-km road connects East Tambaram with Anna Salai near Guindy’s Halda junction, passing through Selaiyur, Camp Road, Sembakkam, Medavakkam and Pallikaranai. It functions as an alternative route to GST Road for commuters travelling between Tambaram and Guindy and carries heavy traffic through the day.
Commuters have reported difficult conditions on the road for several months while large pipelines are being laid between East Tambaram and Medavakkam for a seawater desalination project. Residents said trenches dug during the work had not been properly filled in some stretches, including locations where pipeline laying had already been completed.
The northeast monsoon has worsened the problem by filling potholes with rainwater and making damaged sections difficult for motorists to identify. Residents and commuters said the road condition has contributed to accidents and traffic congestion, affecting students, office-goers and people living along the route.
A senior Highways Department official told DT Next that the pipeline-laying work had not been completed and that the department could begin permanent road restoration only after the entire stretch was handed over by the agency carrying out the work. The official said the department had urged the agency to speed up the project.
The incident illustrates the administrative gap that can arise when a road remains under one agency’s construction activity while restoration responsibility rests with another department. Until the pipeline work is completed and the road is formally handed over, the Highways Department has said it cannot undertake full restoration of the affected stretch.
Residents have urged authorities to expedite the remaining pipeline work, fill excavated portions immediately after completion and repair the road without further delay. They have also called for damaged sections to be made safer during the monsoon, when standing water can conceal potholes and deepen the risk for motorists.
The Highways Department said road restoration would begin after the pipeline-laying work was completed and the road was handed over to it. No separate completion date for the pipeline work was provided in the report.
