CHENNAI: A section of Anna Salai from Saidapet to DMS will, after more than three years, soon be restored to its original width, freeing up traffic on what has become a congested stretch.This will happen as soon as Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) completes work on three underground stations on the line. CMRL plans to open the Saidapet-DMS link by mid-2018.As work on the stations is almost done, there will be a change in traffic flow on the arterial Anna Salai over the coming days.Workers are laying a fresh coat of tar near the Nandanam junction on the left of the road leading to Saidapet. CMRL officials indicated that construction paraphernalia will be shifted to the other side of the road within three days.Motorists and pedestrians used only a part of Anna Salai from Teynampet to Saidapet for three years after work began on the underground stations. Construction stalled for more than a year after a contractor abandoned work in May 2015.An official said CMRL has completed construction of the entry and exit points of the Nandanam station near the junction leading to Saidapet. Engineers had to barricade part of the junction for machinery.“We will move the machinery to the entrance of Venkatanarayana Road as we have to construct the entry and exit points,” the official said.After that, there will be two lanes for vehicles heading from Teynampet to Saidapet and one lane for vehicles heading in the opposite direction.“The Saidapet station is already complete while construction of entry and exit points is underway at the AG-DMS and Nandanam stations,” another official said.Once CMRL completes the work, metro trains will link Anna Salai all the way to the airport.Tunnelling on the the rest of the section of Anna Salai, from Government Estate to Teynampet, is still in progress. The official said tunnel boring machines have excavated earth till Gemini Flyover and they only have a small stretch to complete.A team is fixing damage caused to a sewerage line near Shanthi theatre around 6m underground. Officials said putty leaked into the sewer line during excavation to build a crossover line 16m underground.