Failure to streamline traffic at busy junctions on road corridors developed under the 42-km City Road Improvement Project (CRIP) is causing huge snarls and posing problems to road users.
Lack of will on part of the authorities in enforcing the movement of vehicular traffic as stipulated in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of CRIP and scant regard for rules and regulations by motorists are cited as the main reasons for the snarls and the road rage witnessed at key junctions.
Project officials say it is for the police to enforce the rules once the corridors are developed and thrown open to vehicular traffic. Commissioning of traffic signals at some junctions has failed to improve matters. At some junctions, traffic police personnel on duty do not bother to book the erring motorists.
Utter chaos prevails at the General Hospital junction. Ever since Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL), concessionaires of the CRIP project, started junction development by placing medians on the stretch, traffic snarls have become the order of the day. The snarls extend to the Gas House junction and to Pattoor during the peak hours, especially as two leading schools are located in the area.
Traffic movement
As per the DPR, traffic movement should be from Spencer Junction to the Gas House junction, the General Hospital junction to Statue junction, and General Hospital junction to Vanchiyoor. Vehicles coming from Vanchiyoor towards General Hospital should go via Pattoor to reach their destination.
Project officials say the delay in streamlining the traffic as per the DPR is leading to the chaos. The decision to provide two openings on the median at the gates to General Hospital has compounded the problem.
Another bottleneck is the Ayurveda College junction that has been witnessing heavy movement of traffic since the opening of two textile complexes on the stretch. Entry of vehicles from Chettikulangara and Kunnumpuram to the junction and the location of a bus stop nearby add to the confusion.
Steps have been taken by the TRDCL to create a bus bay so that vehicles can move along the arterial Mahatma Gandhi Road. However, the project officials say, the road from Chettikulangara to Ayurveda College that is now used by the textile firms for parking should be made one-way towards Chettikulangara with a free left from Ayurveda College to decongest the junction. Commissioning of traffic signals will help.
Traffic movement from Sunny Mead Lane to the RBI junction, Parris Road to Bakery Junction, and the RBI junction to Vanross should be restricted to avoid confusion among motorists, they say.
At Kuravankonam, junction development has not been completed owing to the opposition to the handrails that have been erected. Traffic signals are yet to be installed at the junction where six roads meet. The project officials have taken up the issue with the authorities and are awaiting a decision.