For residents of Mylapore, Kutchery Road links one half of their neighbourhood to the other. With eight small lanes and three junctions, it a key connecting road within the neighbourhood.
Residents of localities around Kapaleeshwar temple can take North and East Mada streets to reach the common market near the Sanskrit College, after crossing Kutchery Road via Kalvi Varu Street.
Likewise, people around Bazaar Road, Nachiappa Street and Tiruvallur Salai have to cross this road for a darshan at Kapaleeshwar temple.
Most of the shops, including those selling textiles and handicrafts, are located around Kutchery Road.
It may be a important thoroughfare, but the 3-km-long Kutchery Road, which connects Luz Church Road with Santhome High Road, is not easy on motorists and pedestrians.
This stretch which has six narrow bends is only around 30-feet wide, making it difficult for buses and other heavy vehicles to pass through it.
The existing concrete footpath is small and broken at many points. Overgrown branches of trees along the stretch come in the way of old sodium vapour street lights that illuminate the stretch. At many spots, including the intersection of Kutchery Road, Bazaar Road and Devadi Street, pedestrians coming from the street lanes are hardly visible to the motorist, from the main carriageway on Kutchery Road. Despite heavy vehicular traffic during the busy hours of the day, the road does not have a median.
“Kutchery Road is mainly meant for motorcyclists and pedestrians. Due to the topography of the area, which is also densely-populated, the stretch cannot be widened,” says S. Ramachandran, a resident in Mylapore. “Corporation can at least ensure that basic safety features such as speed breakers with zebra markings, reflectors and traffic signals are provided at important sections of the road.”
Except at the Santhome junction, Kutchery Road does not have a single police check-point or a traffic police personnel.
Kutchery Road may not be like R.K. Mutt Road and Luz Church Road, which provide residents of Mylapore with connectivity to many adjoining neighbourhoods, which include R.A. Puram, Mandaveli, Kotturpuram, Royapettah and Teynampet.
But Kutchery Road does something else, which is also important to residents of Mylapore. It unifies the two halves of the neighbourhood. Besides that, the road is lined with many public utilities, including a British-era police station, a post office and ration shops. There are also many commercial establishments along Kutchery Road.
“As there is no scope for widening the stretch, along with the police, we’ll ensure larger vehicles are not allowed on the stretch. Safety features such as speed breakers, wherever necessary, will be added soon,” said a Corporation official.
