A flyover at Goripalayam junction to decongest traffic has been in discussion among various government agencies for several years. A proposal to construct a flyover that was approved years back by the then Jayalalithaa government after a prolonged delay has now taken the shape of an elevated highway between Periyar statue junction in Tallakulam and Albert Victor Bridge. The ₹200-crore project includes construction of an additional bridge across Vaigai river close to A.V. Bridge.

However, O.B. Balaji, a social worker who is passionate about improving city traffic, is opposed to the very idea of constructing the elevated highway. “The idea of constructing a flyover at Goripalayam junction per se is not necessary. Then where does the new proposal for an elevated highway come from?” he asks.

Mr. Balaji claims that a major portion of the traffic flow at Goripalayam junction is the heavy volume of vehicles that go to A.V. Bridge from Alagarkoil Road. Traffic on the other two branches at the junction – from Palam Station Road (Sellur) to Panagal Road and from Panagal Road to Alagarkoil Road – is very meagre, he says.

His claim is that only because of blocking of traffic due to the signal, vehicles get piled up on these roads.

Even this bottleneck would get eased when widening of Vaigai Bank Roads get over.

Madurai Corporation and National Highways have started widening the existing roads on both banks of the Vaigai and extending them on both sides. This project will provide a seamless road connectivity between Ring Road and Dindigul Bypass Road.

These roads are likely to become bypass roads running very much across the city.

“When these roads are completed, a major chunk of vehicles that usually enter the city from various sides – Dindigul Road, Sivaganga Road and Ramanathapuram Road – would stick on only to Vaigai North Bank Road and Vaigai South Bank Road,” says a Corporation engineer.

Vehicles from all these three districts now invariably pass through Goripalayam junction to reach the east side of the city or the west side. Once the work gets over, these vehicles will not come to Goripalayam junction at all, he says.

With several bridges and causeways available across the Vaigai, the two widened roads would even help city residents take these two roads at different points and cross the river, without having to come to Goripalayam junction, says a National Highways engineer.

The two-way roads on either banks would come up with medians and pedestrian pathways. Besides, a new road overbridge on South Bank Road (parallel to Sellur ROB on North Bank Road) has also been proposed to make both the roads give a seamless connectivity between Dindigul Bypass Road and Ring Road within two years.

Instead of vehicles from all three roads cutting across one another at the junction, Mr. Balaji suggests a major change in traffic pattern. Vehicles from Alagarkoil Road going to A.V. Bridge, should take a free left turn at the junction to go to Panagal Road.

“After going for some 100 metres, these vehicles can make a U-turn on Panagal Road and proceed towards A.V. Bridge. Let the vehicles from Palam Station Road also join this flow of traffic a bit slowly and proceed further to Panagal Road,” he says.

He claims accidents are inevitable when vehicles from two directions cut across each other at the junction. In the proposed traffic pattern, vehicles from both directions will go in the same direction. “Since vehicles from both roads will go in the same direction the possibility of accidents will become almost nil,” he says.

He points out that similar pattern of traffic movement where vehicles from two roads get mingled at a particular point before taking two different roads are very much available at more than one spot in the city.

Vehicles from Nelpettai and A.V. Bridge mingle between Anna Statue junction and Yanaikal junction and they proceed in opposite directions – to Simmakkal and to Kalpalam.

Similarly, vehicles from Alagarkoil Road and Gokhale Road mingle between Ambedkar Statue and Periyar statue and proceed in different directions – towards Goripalayam and towards K.K. Nagar.

He suggests that this could be possible with widening of Alagarkoil Road-Panagal Road left curve. “The Corporation has a huge ground there for widening that would allow more space for the vehicles to move around,” he adds.

Besides, a major junction improvement work could be taken up to suit the proposal.

However, Madurai Collector T.G. Vinay says this proposal of Mr. Balaji has not been agreed upon by Highways officials. Besides, the elevated highway proposal is at an advanced stage. “But for some issues, the bridge work could have started by now,” he adds.