With potholes along Vyttila Junction only getting bigger by the day and heavy rain making them more woeful to negotiate, the traffic police’s attempt to bring about a semblance of order by introducing one-way traffic along the majority of narrow bylanes in and around the junction also seems to be in danger of falling through.
The police resorted to such an arrangement after motorists increasingly turned to such narrow, parallel roads to escape the traffic on the national highway along Vyttila Junction.
However, in a desperate bid to save time and hardships of being out on the road in heavy rain, the one-way rule is often being observed more in breach, defeating the very purpose of its enforcement. The situation is especially worse along Bhagat Singh Lane, St. James Road and Major Road, linking the national highway with S.A. Road.
N.J. Similian, a resident along Canal Road near Thykoodam, said life had turned a nightmare with the road chock-a-block with traffic. “Canal Road is taken by motorists headed towards the city and there is a narrow path along the road before it meets Bund Road reducing traffic to snail’s pace,” he said. A landowner has agreed to surrender land for widening that particular bottleneck and it is now for the authorities concerned to take the initiative.
Signs ineffective
A similar tale gets played out at Bhagat Singh lane where the no-entry signboard put up by local residents has been reduced to a scarecrow. Only on Thursday afternoon, the board was crushed aside when traffic was reduced to a virtual snarl and extended all the way from Vyttila Junction to Thykoodam Bridge.
“More policemen have to be deployed along these roads. Apart from that, one-way rule should be enforced along more roads, including Canal Road, Bhagat Singh Road and Manamel Temple Road,” said M. Premachandran, division councillor for Vyttila Janatha.
With the narrow bylanes getting clogged, it is the local residents who are at the receiving end as they are finding it tough to venture out of their homes. Adding to the plight is the illegal parking of cars along many of such roads.
