The Highways Department has had a complete makeover recently, one that will make it easier for officials and the public. Four wings — Construction and Maintenance (C&M), Projects, NABARD and Rural Roads, and Metro Wing — have been merged to form the C&M wing, which has been divided into four divisions — Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi, and Coimbatore, with four Chief Engineers as the heads.
An official source said these wings were the ones taking up construction of bridges, flyovers, grade separators, foot overbridges, subways, drains, and culverts, formation and widening of roads, and repair and maintenance. “It just made sense to merge all these together. This will bring down communication delays between the wings, will reduce travel time for engineers, and ensure timely completion of projects. The administrative set up remains the same with Divisional Engineers heading the geographical divisions.”
The Chennai Division, which covers districts including Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Villupuram, and Tiruvannamalai, has new divisions in the form of Gummidipoondi, Polur, and Tindivanam. Tiruvallur district has been divided to make Gummidipoondi. Chennai already has two divisions of its own.
“The number of posts remains the same. But the number of supportive staff for the divisional engineers has gone up with the re-allocation. The overall control will be with the Director-General of Highways, who was till now in-charge of administrative and establishment matters. The reorganisation has been done on the lines of that of the Public Works Department,” another source said.
The other divisions, including National Highways, Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project, Tamil Nadu Road Development Company, Highways Research Station, Chennai-Kanniyakumari Industrial Corridor Project, and the recently formed Tamil Nadu State Highways Authority, will continue to function without any changes.
Published – June 29, 2026 06:27 pm IST