Nerves fray on the stretch of Mount-Poonamallee Main Road in front of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) terminus in Iyyapanthangal. Extremely narrow, this stretch poses a challenge to MTC bus drivers as they pilot their vehicles into and out of the terminus. While these bus drivers manoeuvre their vehicles with great difficulty, the movement of other motorists on the road is hampered.
It is an important bus terminus; many services to Tambaram, Chromepet, Vadapalani, Porur and Mandavali are operated from here.
“Motorists coming from the Poonamallee side, particularly, find themselves waiting for a long time, due to the snarl,” says K. Saranya, a resident from Poonamallee. In addition, the stretch is quite crowded as there are many commercial establishments and schools and a few temples in the vicinity. As it does not have an adequate number of streetlights, this stretch gets risky for motorists at night.
According to the police, accidents occur frequently on this road. “There has been a delay in widening of the stretch, due to challenges relating to land acquisition. Appropriate measures will be taken to ease the traffic congestion,” says a State Highways official.