The Hindu : Bad road condition adds to traffic woes at Velachery

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bad road condition adds to traffic woes at Velachery

By P. Oppili

CHENNAI, FEB. 24. Confusion reigns supreme at the junction of Velachery Main road and Taramani-Velachery road during peak hours.

Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus drivers' scant regard for other road users, poor road conditions and increase in the vehicular population are stated to be the reasons for the congestion.

Buses from Tiruvanmiyur to Velachery take a `U' turn at the junction, with little concern for approaching vehicles, residents say.

People from both east and west Velachery who depend on bus services, have to come to the Vijaya Nagar terminus only. Inadequate number of services has been forcing the people to wait for long, according to R. Balasubramanian, a resident of Annai Indira Nagar.

The secretary of the Federation of Velachery Welfare Associations, S. Kumar Raja, said the condition of the road was so bad that all vehicles had to slow down at the junction, creating a bottleneck.

Despite the presence of five police personnel during peak hours, the problem continues, say the residents.

The problem was compounded by the plying of large number of buses chartered by software companies on Old Mahabalipuram Road, which prefer using Velachery Main Road and Taramani Road to reach their destinations.

Re-laying the road from this junction up to the Mass Rapid Transit System overbridge on Tambaram-Pallikaranai Road, installation of a signal and widening the road would help in decongesting the roundabout, said Mr Kumar Raja. Federation members had approached a public sector undertaking, which agreed to sponsor the cost of signal installation. As the authorities had not given consent, the project could not been implemented, he said.

Shifting the existing bus stop (buses heading to Tambaram) and locating it further down, close to the State Bank office, where encroachments were recently evicted, and moving the bus stop on the bypass road to a distance of 100 metres from the existing place (towards Saidapet side) were some of the suggestions made by the residents.

With more and more apartment complexes coming up in the area, authorities have to immediately attend to the problem to avoid fatal accidents, say the residents.

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