In 2010, when the city hosted the Tamil conference, the State Government provided 1,000 metal barricades to the City Police for traffic management. In the last four years, 1,000 more were added, all through sponsorship.
Based on quality, metal barricades cost about Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 6,000 each. The Traffic Police said that they had recently sought 2,000 more metal barricades from the Road Safety Fund. These are being used for traffic management in the city and will be placed as medians, road blocks, and for traffic diversions. Traffic police personnel say that apart from the metal barricades, they have plans to make as many as 5,000 concrete barricades with funds received from sponsors.
Normally, expenses for barricades, sign and caution boards are met from the Road Safety Fund. However, with the growing needs of the city, the police are looking for sponsors.
When the barricades are through sponsorship, the focus turns on ensuring quality. Concrete barricades will cost less than the metal ones, quality assurance is easier, and these will supplement the need for more barricades.
The concrete structures will be used as medians and the metal barricades that are now serving as medians can be used for traffic diversions. The police are working out details on how the sponsors can display their advertisement on these concrete structures.
