Buses skip second entry road to railway junction

They have reverted to the old arrangement

May 07, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:58 am IST - TIRUCHI:

very little vehicle movement:The damaged second entrance road leading to Tiruchi Junction presents a barren look.— Photo: A. Muralitharan

very little vehicle movement:The damaged second entrance road leading to Tiruchi Junction presents a barren look.— Photo: A. Muralitharan

The nearly half-kilometre long second entrance road leading to Tiruchi railway junction remains in disuse for some time now. Barring sparse movement of vehicles especially two-wheelers, the damaged black topped road with cement patches looks barren all through the day.

Town buses operated by the State Transport Corporation and those by private operators which had been using the road until recently have started skipping it.

The buses have reverted to the old arrangement of taking the earlier route to reach Tiruchi Junction by going straight and taking a turn at the Junction roundabout dotted with commercial establishments. Heavy movement of vehicles at the Junction roundabout has often resulted in traffic hold-ups especially during night hours much to the consternation of road users.

The railways had laid the second entrance road abutting Bharathiar Salai to Tiruchi Junction for free flow of vehicular movements and ease congestion in front of the station’s main entrance. As per the arrangement then, town buses bound for central bus stand via Tiruchi Junction took a left turn from Bharathiar Road to enter the second entrance road.

After dropping passengers close to the station, the buses took a ‘U’ turn at the end and headed back to Bharathiar Road to proceed to central bus stand without touching the station’s approach road.

This arrangement was in vogue for some time with the traffic police placing a barricade on Bharathiar Road - second entrance road point. The barricade was placed to caution the bus drivers to take the second entrance road to drop passengers instead of taking the station’s approach road to avoid congestion. However, this arrangement is no longer in vogue; the barricade too is no longer in place and things have reverted back to the same condition which prevailed prior to laying the second entrance road. Town buses have been skipping the second entrance road which presents a sore look with damages covered with patches of cement layers.

Some time ago, a sub-committee consisting of traffic police and transport department officials besides road safety council members came up with a suggestion to permit buses to take the new second entrance road and proceed via the old outer road instead of returning back to Bharathiar Road. This suggestion was made to ease congestion on Bharathiar Road and at the station’s approach road. However, the suggestion was unacceptable to the railways for security purposes, say traffic police personnel and road safety council member M. Sekaran.

Traffic police say transport corporation buses and private buses prefer the old arrangement instead of taking the second entrance road due to its bad condition. Passengers prefer the old arrangement, traffic police claim.

Unless there was proper engineering aspect while laying roads, it would be very difficult to ensure implementation of traffic rules, says Mr. Sekaran.

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