The recent opening of the Anna Nagar Link Road, connecting the Anna Nagar Main Road and the Lawsons Road near the MGR Statue in Cantonment in the city, has caused much traffic congestion around the Parangiri Velupillai Park traffic roundabout over the past few days.
The link road was opened for traffic on a trial basis, although it is yet to be blacktopped, as it was a newly formed one and it would take sometime to stabilise.
However, with mofussil buses and other vehicles entering the city taking the new road, heavy traffic congestion is witnessed around the Velupillai Park traffic roundabout at Cantonment. Before the road was opened, buses and other vehicles could go via the Lawsons Road from the MGR Statue Junction.
However, since a traffic island is yet to be created at this junction to allow vehicles coming from the link road to head towards Lawsons Road, all vehicles have to necessarily go around the Velupillai Park roundabout. The place was already facing much traffic problems owing to indiscriminate parking of two-wheelers and other vehicles of people visiting the commercial complexes along the Heber Road. With vehicles from different directions converging at the junction, where the District Court bus halt is also located, traffic snarls are becoming the order of the day.
Whenever vehicles heading towards Reynolds Road halt at the traffic signal adjacent to the Cantonment Police station, a heavy traffic pile up is witnessed around the roundabout.
Given the narrow space for manoeuvring many heavy vehicles also find it difficult to take the acute turn towards Bharathidasan Salai, say motorists. “The area has turned the latest traffic bottleneck in the city as the authorities have opened the link road without giving much thought to the smooth flow of traffic. Neither the Corporation nor the police have bothered to prevent parking of vehicles along the narrow road. This could at least free up some space,” says Gopalakrishnan, a resident. With buses and heavy vehicles coming from Thanjavur and Chennai also being diverted via Lawsons Road, chaotic traffic condition prevails at the Head Post Office Junction too during the peak hours, complain motorists.
