Motorists taking Southern Sector Inner Ring Road, Velachery, are aware of the perils of night-time driving. For want of streetlights, certain sections of the road, which include Velachery-Thillai Ganga Nagar, and Thillai Ganga Nagar-Pallikaranai, are plunged in darkness.
Though the maintenance of Southern Sector Inner Ring Road is under State Highways Department, the responsibility of providing lighting rests with Greater Chennai Corporation.
“The road provides easy access to Grand Southern Trunk Road, St. Thomas Mount, Medavakkam Main Road, Vanuvampet and Nanganallur,” P. Raman, a resident of Madipakkam, said. Unlike other arterial stretches in the locality that face the same problem, there are no commercial establishments on Southern Sector Inner Ring Road that could provide some illumination for motorists. As a result, motorists switch on high beam lights and put motorists coming in the opposite direction in a spot of trouble. One section of Southern Sector Inner Ring Road, towards Velachery Main Road, has LED lamp posts. The other section, towards Thillai Ganga Nagar, has sodium-vapour lamp posts. But, both are ineffective as a result of their location — they have been installed on the walkers’ path. Motorists say that these streetlights would have been effective if they had been installed on the median.