It was an endless wait for green signals and many arterial roads and junctions in the city witnessed traffic snarls for the third consecutive day on Monday.
With hardly two-days left for Deepavali, the shopping fever gripped the commercial areas of the city since the weekend i.e., on Friday evening. Since Friday evening, the volume of traffic has been on the steady increase leaving no scope for the traffic police to regulate.
Entry of vehicles from peripheral areas such as Valparai, Pollachi, Kinathukkadavu, Negamam, Palladam, Sulur, Annur, Avanashi, Mettuppalayam, Coonoor and Udhagamandalam added to the woes of the city traffic.
Parking of vehicles on both extremes of the road sides also reduced the motorable space on Dr.Nanjappa Road and Gandhipuram areas.
Traffic snarls witnessed on Dr.Nanjappa Road and Park Gate which spilled over to Avanashi Road reiterates the need for shifting the bus stand out of the city on a long term basis and till then at least a make shift bus stand on Avanashi Road while entering the city during the festival season has become paramount, says R.V. Neelakantan, who was caught in a traffic jam at Park Gate on Monday.
At every signal, there was a pile up of vehicles and every motorists had to wait for at least two or three signals for his/her to turn to exit the junction.
Traffic snarls were reported at Oppanakkara Street, Mill Road, Raja Street, Lanka Corner, Goods Shed Road, Avanashi Road flyover, Avanashi Road, Railway station road, Dr.Nanajappa Road, Sathyamangalam Road, Brooke Bond Road, most of the roads in R.S. Puram, Sai Baba Colony, Mettuppalayam Road, Gandhipuram, Cross Cut Road and 100 feet road.
Police expect the traffic to remain the same on Tuesday as well and the shopping areas would start breathing easy post 9 p.m. on Tuesday.
To handle the traffic regulation, city police have roped in traffic wardens, Road Safety Patrol students from schools and colleges besides additional reinforcemens from Armed Reserve and Tamil Nadu Special Battalion in addition to personnel in civil clothes for crime control measures.
