Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Elevated Corridor: Cost, Delays, 2027

The double-decker road from Chennai Port to Maduravoyal was first started in 2010, stopped in 2016 and restarted in 2023. Its deadline has moved three times in four years. What is being built, what it costs, and why the port wants it.

The numbers

The Chennai Port to Maduravoyal elevated corridor is now scheduled for completion in November 2027, according to a PIB release of 10 March 2026. That is the third completion date given in official statements since the project was revived: December 2024 in a 2022 ministry statement, 20 May 2026 in a July 2024 reply to Parliament, and now late 2027.

The project itself is unusual for an Indian city. It is a four-lane, double-tier structure about 20.9 km long. The lower deck carries city traffic, with 13 ramps; the upper deck is a dedicated freight road running straight to the port’s Gate 10 so that container trucks never touch city streets. The March 2026 release gives the project’s history in one line: initiated in 2010, terminated in 2016, and restarted in 2023 at the request of the Tamil Nadu government and the Chennai Port, guided by a technical committee.

Four packages, one corridor

The National Highways Authority of India is building the corridor in four engineering, procurement and construction packages. Under EPC, NHAI pays a contractor to design and build to a fixed specification; NHAI carries the cost and later collects tolls or recovers money through other means. A Lok Sabha reply of 25 July 2024 by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari listed them.

Source: Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 594, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI annexure, 25 July 2024; totals added by Spirit of Chennai

The reply did not say how much had been spent, who the contractors were, or why any package was late. It described delays in general terms, citing land acquisition and environmental clearances as areas the ministry had streamlined.

How the cost figure has moved

Official statements have used several cost figures, and they do not all describe the same thing. In April 2022 the Chennai Port Authority chairman put the project at ₹5,800 crore and said it would be finished within 30 months of work resuming, according to PIB Chennai. When the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone on 26 May 2022, the PIB release described a 21 km, four-lane double-decker costing over ₹5,850 crore. The July 2024 package list adds up to ₹6,106.52 crore. The March 2026 release says “over ₹3,500 crore”.

The 2026 figure is far below the others and the release does not explain the basis. It may refer to a construction contract value rather than the full project cost, but that is not stated, so readers should treat the July 2024 package total as the most detailed official figure available.

Source: Press Information Bureau releases 2022 and 2026; Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 594, 2024

Why the port wants it

Chennai Port’s problem is the last few kilometres. Trucks carrying containers to and from the port must cross the city, and their movement is restricted at busy hours. The ministry’s October 2022 statement claimed the corridor would raise the port’s handling capacity by 48 per cent and cut waiting time at the port by six hours. The March 2026 release adds that the port handles 53 million tonnes a year now and is estimated to reach 200 million tonnes a year by 2047, and that the corridor is designed for round-the-clock access.

Those capacity and waiting-time figures are the ministry’s projections, not measured results. They will only be testable once trucks are using the upper deck and the port publishes turnaround data.

The route through the city

The corridor starts inside Chennai Port and ends past the Maduravoyal interchange on the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway. The 2026 release names the key city entry and exit points as Sivananda Salai, College Road, Spur Tank Road and Koyambedu. The April 2022 description gave the double flyover as running from Sivananda Road to Koyambedu, with the lower tier for local vehicles and the upper tier for port-bound vehicles.

How fast it is being built

The March 2026 release gives rare operational detail. Work was running 11 hours a day, five in daytime and six at night, and NHAI had asked for permission to work 16 hours. Casting yards, including an 80-acre facility at EVP Film City, were producing more than 500 precast segments a month, and segment launching was due to start within about two weeks. Precast segments are concrete sections cast on the ground and lifted onto the piers, which keeps most of the heavy work away from the road below.

Those working-hour limits are set because much of the alignment runs over or beside busy roads, where traffic police must agree to closures. The request for longer hours is one of the few levers left to recover time on a 2027 target.

What this means for you

• Expect lane closures and night work along the alignment, especially near the named ramp points, while segment launching continues.
• When the corridor opens, the upper deck will be for port freight; plan commuting around the lower-deck ramps, not the full length.
• Treat the ₹6,106.52 crore package total as the most detailed official cost; the lower 2026 figure is unexplained.
• Any toll arrangement has not been announced in the documents reviewed here.

What to watch

Checked against official sources on 23 October 2026. Figures and rules change; confirm on the linked official pages before relying on them.

Sources

1. NHAI’s double-tier elevated corridor between Chennai Port and Maduravoyal scheduled for completion by 2027, PIB, 10 March 2026
2. Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 594, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, 25 July 2024
3. Project for Chennai Port to Maduravoyal corridor to be completed by December 2024, PIB, 3 October 2022
4. PM dedicates and lays foundation stone of 11 projects worth over Rs 31,500 crore in Tamil Nadu, PIB, 26 May 2022
5. Chennai Port-Maduravoyal Expressway to be completed within 30 months, PIB, 1 April 2022