Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 16, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
With rise in number of vehicles and shrinking road-space, travelling on city roads has become a nightmare, writes V.S. Palaniappan The normal scene of vehicles moving from bumper to bumper at a snail’s pace has become a common sight in Coimbatore. There is an exponential growth in vehicular population thanks to the increasing buying capacity and liberal norms of the funding institutions. But the road-space has not increased considerably, in fact, they are shrinking owing to encroachments on one side and turning of road boundaries into official parking lots on the other. With commercial buildings having no provision for parking space and turning roadside boundaries into parking lots, enough carriage way is not available for traffic flow. With the battered stretch of Tiruchi Road from Ondipudur to Stock Exchange giving a nightmare for the motorists, the other arterial vein Avanashi Road had been taken up for widening and strengthening. This has resulted in vehicular traffic with students and office-goers struggling every day. Unfortunately, both the entry points into the city from two arterial national highways are not able to stand the volume of traffic. In addition, the Sathyamangalam Road – 100 Feet Road junction has become congested forcing the motorists to wait for more than five minutes at signal. With the available resources and infrastructure, the administration was introducing various measures using road safety funds and under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for easing city traffic but there are miles to go before reaping the benefits of these measures. On the one hand, the authorities have banned parking for 500 metres from traffic junctions, signals and road curves. The bus drivers continue to be a law unto themselves parking vehicles indiscriminately close to signals and road junctions and even on the middle of the road hampering free flow of traffic. Even efforts to lay link roads and ring roads and ban parking are facing resistance with land owners opposing acquisition of land and vested interest groups opposing ban. With the concept of satellite bus stands facing hurdles in the form of court stays and legal tangles, mofussil buses continue to enter the city not only occupying the very little road space but also unleashing terror on fellow motorists by racing in a bid to save on running time. The authorities are now pinning hopes on link roads connecting Avanashi Road with Tiruchi Road on one side and Avanashi Road with Mettuppalayam Road via Sathyamangalam Road so that vehicles could avoid entering the core city areas. Similarly, the decision to shift lorrypet to Vellalore comes as a relief for those struggling to wade through truck traffic.
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