Drivers of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses find it difficult to negotiate the narrow St. Mary’s Road – Trustpuram Road junction in Mylapore before taking R.K. Mutt Road, as vehicles, largely two-wheelers, are parked on both sides of these roads.
Motorists and residents say widening St. Mary’s Road from its current width of 20-feet to 40-feet will benefit all road users, including pedestrians.
At present, motorists from R.K. Mutt Road cannot take a ‘right’ turn to go to St. Mary’s Road, which is a one-way.
Motorists can reach St. Mary’s Road from R.K. Mutt Road by taking a ‘U’ turn at Mandaveli bus terminus signal. The stretch between Mandaveli signal and St. Mary’s Road intersection on R.K. Mutt Road is a one-way.
Motorists from St. Mary’s Road can take a left or a right turn on the R.K. Mutt Road. This traffic arrangement is in existence for many years now to ease traffic congestion near Kapaleeshwar temple tank intersection.
“Motorists, especially motorcyclists, come in the wrong direction on the one-way St. Mary’s Road risking other motorists. Further, MTC buses struggle to turn at the Mary’s Road-R.K. Mutt Road junction due to narrow bend there resulting in traffic blocks every day,” says S. Raghavendran, a motorist from Mylapore.
Unlike the Luz Church Road and Mandaveli junction, which is a broad junction, the St. Mary’s Road- Trustpuram Road junction is narrow with a bend, on the side leading to Mylapore.
Vehicles including MTC buses get struck at the bend when they try to take a a left turn to reach R.K. Mutt Road as they cannot see the buses coming in the opposite direction. Vehicles are parked near the bend, further congesting the section.
There is a lone police personnel manning this section, and he is irregularly deployed.
