Every week day, in the evening, M. Prabhakaran, an IT professional, walks from the Guru Nanak College stop on Velachery Bypass Road to his house at Ram Nagar. Last week, the walk got longer by over two kilometres for Prabhakaran.
“Previously, the bus stop was less than 500 metres from my home,” says Prabhakaran waiting at the Dhandeeswaram bus stop.
Not just Prabhakaran, but many other residents from the region, which includes Ram Nagar, Anna Garden and Indira Gandhi Garden on Old Velachery Main Road, are complaining that their return journey has increased ever since the new traffic diversion came into force on Taramani Link Road and Old Velachery Main Road.
Bus commuters have been hit hard by the route diversion, which has been introduced to facilitate the foundation-laying work for the construction of pillars for the flyover connecting Taramani Link Road, TANSI Nagar and Velachery bypass road. With the traffic diversion, bus route numbers proceeding towards Tambaram go through Velachery Bypass Road and Velachery Main Road.
“The usual route was through Old Velachery Main Road and Velachery Main Road,” said a commuter. MTC route numbers 5A (East Tambaram - T. Nagar), B51 (East Tambaram - T. Nagar), V51 (West Tambaram – T. Nagar, West Tambaram – Velachery) and A51 (East Tambaram - Broadway) from East and West Tambaram ply through stops such as Dandeeshwaram, IIT-Madras (Velachery gate) and Guru Nanak College and Phoenix Mall towards T. Nagar and Broadway.
“Share autorickshaws do not ply on the stretch. We have to take an auto or walk from Five Furlong Road or Guru Nanak College bus stops. The other option is to travel till Vijaya Nagar terminus and board route numbers D70 and 1G to reach our homes,” said S. Anitha, a commuter waiting at IIT gate bus stop. She suggested that the route numbers be operated through Old Velachery Main Road and LIC Colony Main Road and take a u-turn at the intersections of TANSI Nagar 15th Street, Sixth Street and Taramani Link Road. For example, while coming from West Tambaram, route number 51 (Velachery – West Tambaram) takes a u-turn at the intersections to get to Velachery Main Road. Residents of LIC Colony Main Road are also unhappy about the traffic diversion. As the pavements on the stretch have been encroached upon by iron posts, transformers, garbage bins and junction boxes, they hardly have space to walk. Moreover, the stretch is a one-way. The traffic diversion will be in place for six months, traffic police personnel added.
