The restoration of two-way traffic at Royapettah High Road and Luz Church Road on October 7 has brought much relief to the residents of Mylapore.
However, for this system to help reduce traffic congestion optimally, Kalvi Varu Street has to be cleared of encroachments, say residents and other stakeholders.
According to residents, Royapettah High Road (Thiru-Vi-Ka High Road) was made one-way over five years ago to facilitate parking of vehicles. The arrangement was intended to facilitate dropping of children at a private school nearby.
Since then, residents and traders have been waging a battle demanding that two-way system be restored, as one-way traffic meant taking a detour of a few kilometres.
“The major chunk of traffic on Royapettah High Road is due to the location of schools on the stretch. This can be considerably reduced if parents use different entry and exit points to pick up and drop their children,” said Vishwanathan K., president of Mylapore Residents’ Welfare Association. Now, residents hope parents don’t park their vehicles on the road.
“The ideal plan would be to drop children at the Royapettah Road main entrance and pick them up from Kalvi Varu Street. Once this street is cleared, people can use it to access Balakrishna Road and Dwaraka Colony too,” he added.
Some structures under the MRTS rail line in Kalvi Varu Street were cleared a few months ago and if, bereft of encroachments, this stretch will free up traffic on the parallel Royapettah High Road, said Natraj R., MLA of Mylapore constituency.
To inform motorists about the new traffic arrangement, placards have been placed at various locations. In the first week of this awareness drive, an Assistant Commissioner, two inspectors and 20 constables were stationed. The number of traffic police personnel would be scaled downed in the next two weeks.
Remove encroachments
However, until the Greater Chennai Corporation and the Traffic Police work together, the new arrangement will not be as effective as it should be, said Sridhar Venkatraman, a resident of Mylapore. “After the change, some of the intersections are a mess now. I don’t think this is a sustainable way of handling traffic; for, it will need constant police intervention. Encroachments all along Royapettah High Road have to be removed. The police should come down heavily on any indiscriminate parking. And certain institutions have to regulate the traffic they generate. The whole neighbourhood can’t suffer because of them,” he said.
Decongestion measures
Residents feel schools must come with new ways of regulating traffic in their surrounding areas.
“Parents must go in for car-pooling or use two-wheelers instead of cars to drop their children,” said Kamesh V., a parent and a member of Vidya Mandir Alumni Association. According to the police, Kalvi Varu Street is being closely monitored to make the stretch safer for students using bicycles.
“I personally visit the street at least once in two days to clear all commercial vehicles parked near the back gate of the school. We want to make sure there is sufficient space for parents to park their cars when they come to pick up their children,” said Maheswari C., DCP East (Traffic).
