Traffic congestion is all set to worsen on Kamaraj Road as the Corporation plans to dig the road for a stretch of three km from Manis Theatre near Hope College to Singanallur Bus Stand to lay cement pipes for Under Ground Drainage (UGD) works.
Last week, the Corporation wrote to the City Police Commissioner seeking diversion of traffic on the busy road. Traffic police sources told The Hindu that the road would be dug for a depth of 2.5 m to 3.5 m for a width of 3.5 ft. Digging for laying the cement pipes would be carried out in three phases.
While all these will affect traffic to some extent, the issue of concern is the pits to be dug for junction boxes. According to the police, the contractor has said that the pits to be dug for the junction boxes will be eight feet long and eight feet wide.
The officer said that there would be a junction box for every 25 to 50 m based on the number of houses in that stretch along side Kamaraj Road. It would take time for the junction boxes to set and for the road to be re-laid. Stating that the contract sought three months’ time for completion of the work, the police felt that it could take a little more time.
UGD work on the already congested Kamaraj Road would badly affect connectivity between the two major roads running across the length of the city – Trichy Road and Avinashi Road. The roads are the lifeline for the traffic bound for airport and a bus stand. It is a major road that is accessed by residents of thousands of houses on either side and frequented by many town buses – connecting Singanallur and Gandhipuram Bus Stands. These roads and the residential colonies house a number of education institutions, industrial units and hospitals.
This will increase stress on Pankaja Mill Road at Ramanathapuram Junction and other smaller roads connecting both the roads. The police plan to regulate traffic on the road by allowing movement of vehicles (including buses) from Hope College to Singanallur. However, they plan to divert buses from Singanallur to Hope College through Varadharajapuram Road, Uppilipalayam Road and Masakalipalayam Road.
While they are also studying the possibility of diverting vehicles through G.V. Residency, the police said that the two smaller alternative routes could be used only after they are re-laid. Masakalipalayam Road and the road at G.V. Residency (road next to Fun Mall) are yet to be laid after they were dug for the UGD work. Only these two roads can come in handy for reducing the pressure caused by implementing one-way on Kamarajar Road, police officials said.
In their response to the Corporation, the police will be asking the Corporation for speedy re-laying of the above said roads before diverting traffic from Kamaraj Road. On the safety front, focus will be to erect visible caution boards and marking portions that have been dug with reflective tapes, as this road has recorded the most number of road accident deaths (among Corporation roads) here.
“The diversion will not only be laborious and time consuming for the residents but also unavoidable. The only possible solution for restoring traffic on Kamaraj Road is to complete the UGD work across the stretch and re-laying it without delay, unlike a host of localities across the city,” a police officer said.
