Crossing the Periyar Bus Stand for motorists coming from all approach roads has become a Herculean task, more so in the past one week. Either the vehicles move at a snail's pace or idle away the time in traffic snarls.
With no sign of police presence, it was a free-for-all situation on Thursday morning. At around 8.30 a.m., vehicles were stranded up to Crime Branch side on the arterial Tirupparankundram Road, better known as TPK Road, waiting to go past Muthu Bridge from Shopping Complex Bus Stand. On the opposite side, vehicles remained stationary up to Madura College entrance.
The situation on South Veli Street, another important arterial road that feeds traffic into Periyar bus stand area, was no different. When many motorists, particularly two-wheelers and share autorickshaws, rushed to the front by overtaking all other waiting vehicles, it was utter chaos near fire service station. Pedestrian movement also was at the height of disorderliness. At around 9.10 a.m., when an emergency ambulance tried to pass all these obstacles and enter the city from the Palangantham side, it could not move beyond the fire station. The driver turned restless as the vehicles didn't seem to move. Only after some fire fighters came to the scene did the ambulance get a way out.
With no traffic diversion or public announcement from the traffic police, many tourist vehicles were clueless on the reasons for the chaos.
Road work
Work on laying paver blocks in front of the Periyar bus stand seems to hinder smooth traffic flow, a police officer said. The vehicles, especially heavy vehicles other than the TNSTC city buses bound for places beyond Palanganatham, could have been diverted to take the Bypass Road, which may have avoided the traffic flow from getting paralysed in and around the busy Periyar bus stand.
The paver block laying work is expected to get over in a day or two.
It was decided to lay paver blocks as a permanent solution to water logging during rains, flowing the success of a similar exercise on Simakkal-Tamil Sangam Road and around Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple area.
TNSTC officials at Periyar bus stand said that by diverting traffic until the road works were completed, the traffic longjam could have been avoided. Instead of holding up traffic on both sides, many motorists would have been relieved had the stretch closed temporarily for private and heavy vehicles.
Drivers at the autorickshaw stand in the locality also said that the paver block work had resulted in holding up traffic even during non-peak hours.
