CHENNAI: The breakdown of three MTC buses in the past month on Doraisamy Road subway in T.Nagar sparking major traffic hold-ups during peak hours highlights the need for not only improving traffic planning but also expediting a subway at Rangarajapuram.

Local residents said thousands of vehicles including two-wheelers, cars and autorickshaws from West Mambalam, Ashok Nagar, K.K.Nagar, MGR Nagar, Nesappakkam and part of Kodambakkam, use Doraiswamy subway to reach T. Nagar and beyond. The breakdown of MTC buses, sometimes as early as 7.30 a.m., chokes traffic with the cascading effects felt on G.N. Chetty Road, Pondy Bazaar and Venkatnarayana Road. In such situations, vehicles headed for West Mambalam or towards Pondy Bazaar are unable to move even an inch, complain residents.

S. Kannan, a resident of West Mambalam for the past 15 years, said in the last few years the vehicles using the Doraisamy Road subway had increased phenomenally. When a vehicle breaks down, the impact is felt all around T.Nagar, he said.

S.Govindaraj, Joint General Secretary, Exnora, a resident of West Mambalam said about a decade ago a proposal was mooted to construct a subway at Rangarajapuram connecting Kodambakkam to T. Nagar. But, the proposal was put in cold storage.

Mr Govindaraj feels that even now it was not too late. As in Tambaram a mini subway could be constructed connecting Dr. Nair Road to Unnamalai Amman Street in T. Nagar to facilitate the crossing from Kodambakkam to T. Nagar, he said.

Apart from the vehicle growth, the haphazard movement of pedestrians was also a problem that needs to be tackled, said another resident. For instance, pedestrians gather in large numbers at the junction of Usman Road and Doraisamy Road during peak hours forcing traffic police to stop the vehicles heading towards West Mambalam and the ones coming from West Mambalam to T. Nagar.

This also affected the free flow of traffic, the resident pointed out.

He suggested that the police seek help from textiles merchants to construct a road over bridge with an escalator at this junction to help pedestrians cross the road.

Another suggestion from the residents was that temporary barricades should be installed from Usman Road junction up to Brindavan Street, West Mambalam to aid traffic flow.

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