On any given day, traffic movement on Chinnakadai Street-South Marret Street junction in South Gate presents a chaotic picture, more so in the rush hour in the mornings and evenings.
The reason is simple. Vehicles from both roads cut into each other at the junction -- one to cross the roads and to enter the other road, but they are not regulated in any form.
Though there are two traffic signal posts, they are defunct. No police personnel is posted here to regulate traffic.
“At least 70 per cent of the vehicles coming from the Crime Branch side of South Marret Street take a right turn into Chinnakadai Street to proceed further towards Villapuram, Avaniyapuram. Several city buses bound to Valayankulam and Kariyapatti too take the same route,” said an autodriver A. Zakir Hussain.
The significance of the junction and a small stretch of Chinnakadai Street is that they connect the busy South Veli Street and South Marret Street. More so, since both the main roads have one-way traffic in opposite directions.
Vehicles coming from Avaniyapuram and Airport have to take the same stretch of road and junction to reach the northern portion of the city.
Adding to the confusion is the rampant encroachment of the road margins, and also good portion of the roads, especially at the junction and on the Chinnakadai Street and South Marret Streets on the other sides of the junction.
A vegetable shop has encroached upon the platforms of both Chinnakadai Street and South Marret Street and also a good portion of the road.
Just opposite to it, flower vendors squat on the two-wheeler lane on left side of the South Marret Street and some 10 feet on the Chinnakadai Street.
This further forces pedestrians who come to the market to walk on the road endangering their limbs and lives.
Moreover, shareautorickshaws make haphazard halting on this junction and the road to drop or pick up passengers.
The squeezed carriage way of the roads only create more congestion.
“The police should convert the stretch of Chinnakadai Street between the South Veli Street and South Marret Street into one-way. Vehicles coming from Avaniyapuram should be diverted through South Veli Street and made to make u-turn to South Marret Street so that the traffic flow is not blocked at the junction,” said Mr. Zakir.
The police do it during festival times, he added.
Other possibility is synchronising the traffic signal on Airport Road- South Veli Street and the Chinnakadai street-South Marret Street junction.
A similar facility integrating the traffic signals on the New Vakkil Street and North Veli Street near Old Chokkanathar temple has been very effective in regulating vehicular flow in two junctions located in close proximity.
