More than five months after Brooke Bond Road was closed from the Avinashi Road flyover to Chinthamani, making it a one way, the exercise has served the purpose on that stretch, but had added to traffic congestion in the nearby areas.
On December 25 last year, the city police made the road one-way. The police cited narrow entry to Brooke Bond Road from the flyover as reason for traffic snarls there and claimed this was the reason for making the road one-way.
As part of this initiative, vehicles from the flyover to Chinthamani should take Mill Road and Flower Market Road. This is only 200 meters more than the distance to be covered through Brooke Bond Road. The Brooke Bond Road has been decongested and is free for those who are heading to the flyover.
However, P. Balakrishnan said that till the traffic diversion came to effect it took about five minutes to reach Marakadai from Theppakulam Maidhanam 2{+n}{+d}Street. “But now it even takes 15 minutes during the peak hours and during week ends,” he said.
The traffic on the flyover is also congested. So far the city police have replied three Right To Information Act petitions over the issue and are preparing reply for a case against them before a Coimbatore Court.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Sivakumar said that he cannot comment on it as the matter was pending before the court. “However, we are going to have trials and studies on the possibility to decongest vehicle movement on the flyover,” he said. As part of the initiatives the police are going to have trials this week on making better utility of the roads below the flyover.
“We will also study other pockets where traffic snarls have been caused near Brooke Bond Road,” he added.
