The Moolakadai junction is no longer just a chaotic point on the traffic map, but also an accident-prone zone.
With the commencement of the Rs. 50-crore flyover work in 2011, the total width of the Grand Northern Trunk (GNT) Road has been reduced by half, whereas the traffic flow is on the rise.
This is one of the main reasons for increasing frequency of accidents.
Also, bad service roads and poor illumination add to the problems. Clearing the chaos at the junction is a Herculean task. Vehicles line up for around one-kilometre distance from the junction during the rush hour,” said a traffic police officer.
The two-lane 613 metre-long flyover is aimed at connecting the Madhavaram High Road and GNT Road.
More importantly, the flyover would ease the traffic flow from the western and northern parts of the city.
Unlike the congested Poonamallee High (PH) Road, the route via GNT Road where the flyover is being built is less congested and shorter by at least 10 kilometres to reach the main city including Chennai port.
As a result, container lorries that come from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh via Tada on GNT Road, prefer Moolakadai junction to reach the city’s lone port.
Apart from heavy-vehicle users, motorists from the western and northern parts of the city cross the junction every day.
Plying through the junction is a shorter route and an important link to Madhavaram, Milk Colony, Manali, Ennore, Wimco Nagar in the extreme north of the city with areas like Sembium, Perambur, Jamaliya, Pulianthope, Villivakkam, ICF, Ayanavaram, Anna Nagar, Basin Bridge and Broadway.
“All kinds of vehicles travel through the junction.
Pedestrians mainly school children too are the worst-hit as they find it difficult to negotiate the junction due to traffic chaos,” said S.Devi, a resident in Sembium.
At present, around 40 per cent of the work on the flyover has been completed despite the deadline of 18 months after the actual start of the work in mid-2011.
Land acquisition, State highways sources said, is the major hindrance in execution of the project.
As more land needs to be acquired, the State highways is also reluctant to lay the service lanes on both sides of the flyover, which is under construction, with bitumen as the State-run agency fear that the service lanes might be worn-out when the entire flyover work is finished.
Again, they have to re-lay the service lanes. This would add up to the existing project costs, the State highways sources said.
Police sources also said that wide bitumen-laid service roads, speed breakers and better illumination would make the stretch less accident-prone.
“As many vital stretches including PH Road got shrunk due to Chennai Metro Rail work, many motorists from the western part of the city use Moolakadai junction to reach the city. Better service lanes and illumination would make the junction safe,” said a traffic police officer.
