On this busy road that comes under the maintenance of the State Highways Department, there are two narrow vehicular crossings, one near Moolakadai Junction with the first crossing connecting the Madhavaram-Red Hills Road with the Tondiarpet High Road and the other one, links it with Kamaraj Road.
Both Tondiarpet High Road and Kamaraj Road are MTC bus routes, and the crossings witness traffic blocks round-the-clock.
There are two reasons why traffic chaos reigns at these two crossings. One, both the crossings are only a few yards apart, and there aren’t any proper pedestrian crossings on this section. There isn’t permanent deployment of traffic police personnel either.
Two, the crossings are located on a narrow stretch of Madhavaram – Red Hills Main Road that is marked by encroachment by hawkers and petty shops, especially on the side of the road where vehicular traffic is towards Madhavaram Milk Colony direction.
Four crossings within 500 metres
On a stretch of the State Highways Department-maintained Surapet Main Road there are four vehicular crossings, all of the located within a distance of 500 metres. This is the section of the road where Rakkee theatre is found. Each of these crossings enables connectivity from a street to the main road.
There is considerable traffic chaos, and even accidents occur regularly, on this section and the reason is not lost on some of the motorists frequenting it. Motorists have pointed out that there is no need to provide a vehicular crossing for every street that is connected to the main road. Instead, a common vehicular crossing can be provided on the main road for a group of streets. Lack of good street lights around these crossings is also said to be contributing to the traffic problem on this section.
Despite barricades, rash driving continues
A vehicular crossing in front of the newly-opened Joint Commissioner of Police (West) office on Chennai–Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road in Ambattur is proving quite a handful for motorists.
The crossing is mainly meant for motorists coming from Dr. Ambedkar Road, a narrow street, to reach CTH Road, which is maintained by the State Highways Department. Despite steel barricades having been placed in front of the crossing to prevent rash driving, accidents occur frequently at this spot.
The reason for this is that the vehicular crossing is located in a narrow stretch of CTH Road making it difficult for motorists coming from Dr. Ambedkar Road to take a right turn. There has been a delay in widening of this narrow section of CTH Road, especially near the crossing.
A narrow vehicular crossing after the Villivakkam junction on the side of the Corporation-maintained New Avadi Road where vehicular traffic moves towards Anna Nagar, is the source of traffic chaos on the section. The crossing is aimed at providing residents on streets along the main road, access to the main road.
This crossing is meant to decongest Villivakkam junction especially during rush hour. However, accidents occur frequently at the junction, and many of these have involved pedestrians.
Around 100 metres of New Avadi Road has not been widened due to encroachments, mainly makeshift shops. The encroachment has reduced the actual width of the stretch from 60 feet to half of its size on this section. With overgrown trees blocking lighting, the two-lane stretch is a death trap with pedestrians including children suddenly running from one end to the other, taking motorists by surprise.