Vehicles pile up frequently at this intersection giving nightmarish experience to road users
Vehicles pile up frequently at this intersection giving nightmarish experience to road users
The Murungapakkam junction has emerged as a major traffic bottleneck and people living in the city dread their daily commute to their workplace in the southern suburbs such as Thavalakuppam and Kirumambakkam .
With rapid urbanisation of the area, the junction at the arterial Cuddalore Road and the Villianur Road has become increasingly congested. A number of commercial hubs are located near the junction and lack of parking space for vehicles, thanks to encroachments, have added to the traffic woes.
Apart from those commuting from Puducherry to Cuddalore and Villianur to Murungapakkam, hundreds of persons staying in residential colonies and apartments on either side of the road till Ariyankuppam are caught in traffic jams during peak hours.
Vehicles pile up frequently at this intersection giving nightmarish experience to road users.
According to Raghuraman, a resident of Point Care Street, “I had to reach my office at Poornankuppam at 9 a.m., but due to heavy traffic, I couldn’t reach on time. Though I had reached Murungapakkam from Nellithope in just 10 minutes, I remained stuck there for more than 25 minutes. Traffic was crawling and there was no policeman to manage the traffic snarls.”
“Though the Government aspires to provide a high level of liveability, work environment, and adequate provisions for basic utilities, road infrastructure in the city remains very poor. Though the residents pay road taxes, the government does not provide us with good roads,” says D. Govindarajan, a businessman of Kombakkam.
Poor traffic management, bad condition of roads, lack of pedestrian facilities, failure on the part of motorists to follow rules, and haphazard parking contribute to the problem.
“The police should come up with solutions to ease the traffic bottlenecks by introducing staggered timings for schools and colleges on the lines of other cities.
With students and office goers heading to institutions and offices at the same time located in the area, a revised timetable will help in reducing traffic congestion to a considerable extent. The timings of institutions could be rescheduled with a variation of 10 to 15 minutes ,” said an urban planner.
A senior police officer said police personnel would be deputed at the junction to ensure smooth flow of traffic. He said overspeeding and lane indiscipline by vehicles was one of the reasons for vehicles piling up at the intersection. “Though the police has been booking cases, there is little change in the attitude of vehicle users,” he added.
