Traffic hold-ups seem to have become the order of the day on Chennai-Bangalore National Highway and Oragadam Road junction near Sriperumbudur despite installation of traffic signalling system. The system was installed at this junction a few months ago as part of the traffic management initiatives taken up by the Kancheepuram district police and inaugurated by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Kancheepuram Range, M. Ramasubramani.
During the inauguration, it was claimed that the new facility would help to regulate the flow of traffic which had increased considerably in the recent years after staff buses and goods carriers heading to and from companies in the Oragadam industrial belt started plying through this junction regularly.
Police said the signal would be operated manually during morning and evening rush hour and put on automatic mode during rest of the time. In order to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, vehicles plying towards Tambaram from the National Highway were made to take a detour of the area up to the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial, take a ‘U' turn near the Indira Gandhi statue to reach this junction and take a left turn to the Tambaram Road.
However, traffic hold-ups and chaos persist at this junction whenever traffic constables posted for duty leave the spot for a brief period or sent for VIP security duty elsewhere in the district. Further, the automatic signals often seldom function at this junction, trying the patience of drivers, who take a right turn to the Oragadam Road from the National Highway or those wanting to take a right turn to the National Highway from the Oragadam Road.
They dart across the junction menacingly to proceed further through the NH or Oragadam Road to reach their destinations, whenever they sense there was good enough space available in between two vehicles plying on the National Highway.
