The city needs to improve its public transportation system rather than construct new flyovers.
On Old Mahabalipuram Road, 64 per cent of the road is occupied by private vehicles such as cars and two-wheelers carrying only 26 per cent of commuters. But buses and share autos occupy 27 per cent of the road while carrying 74 per cent of commuters. A well-integrated MRTS, Metro Rail and the proposed Bus Rapid Transit System should connect Velachery, Thiruvanmiyur, T. Nagar, Adyar and beyond, from where traffic originates and causes congestion on OMR.
Raj Cherubal, director (projects), Chennai City Connect
Being commuters of Old Mahabalipuram Road, we strongly feel that a flyover should have been constructed long ago. The OMR stretch has seen a quick growth, quicker than any other zone in Chennai in the last decade. People from all walks of life using different modes of transportation navigate this stretch every day.
It is commendable that the Metropolitan Transport Corporation is operating its services in large numbers on this stretch. They are still inadequate most of the time. Keeping this in mind, the government should increase the number of MTC services. The number of personal vehicles on this stretch is not going to decrease. In fact, it is bound to increase. This will add up to the existing traffic congestion.
Though the MRTS service covers the stretch between Kasturba Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur, not many prefer this mode of transport for various reasons. Most of the time, the stations are isolated. Be it day or night, they are turning out to be unsafe. Walking up the stairs to reach the platform is difficult — most of the time, the lifts / escalators don’t operate. Passengers whose destination is beyond TIDEL Park signal have to alight at Thiruvanmiyur station and look for other modes of transport to reach their destination on OMR. People hesitate to use the MRTS for this short-distance travel. The congestion is found just near the TIDEL signal and not from Madhya Kailash.
Madhya Kailash has free flowing traffic most of the time. Hence, the flyover can be built short, starting from closer to Indira Nagar MRTS station and going up to SRP Tools. People who want to continue travelling on OMR can take this flyover and the rest can take the roads below. In addition to a flyover, there should be ways by which greater patronage for public modes of transportation could be encouraged. Limited stop MTC services can be provided so that transport time will be reduced. This will encourage people to use MTC effectively. Bus Rapid Transport System can be introduced. A separate lane can be dedicated for the MTC buses on OMR so that they move freely. Commuting time will again reduce if this is implemented. A small subway can be built only for the motorcyclists who commute to TIDEL Park and Ramanujam IT park. This subway can be built closer to Indira Nagar MRTS, so that the crowd from Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur can use this to bypass the TIDEL Park signal and reach their destination hassle-free.
