Instead of waiting for a formal inauguration, motorists have gone ahead and started using the Rs.3.12 crore four-lane bridge connecting Indira Nagar and Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Vehicles proceeding from Besant Nagar and Indira Nagar and wanting to reach Taramani prefer the facility and take a ‘U' turn at the Tidel Park junction.
K. Partheban, an autoriskshaw driver at the Adyar Aavin auto stand, said he saw that the bridge had been completed last Thursday and has been using it ever since. “I can now take passengers for Rs.40 or Rs.50 to CPT and VHS instead of Rs.70 – 80 that I charged earlier. The bridge is a boon to those going to Taramani or Kanagam. We only hope the Chennai Corporation will inaugurate it soon,” he said.
Resident of 1 Avenue and an interior decorator N.Gopi, said the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company, which manages the road, could consider opening the median opposite the bridge so that motorists could go straight into the service lane on the other side or take a right to reach Madhya Kailash.
On the requests for a right turn where the bridge joins Rajiv Gandhi Salai, an official source in the TNRDC said that it was studying traffic flow data at the location. “If a substantial number of vehicles take a U-turn to reach Taramani side and spill over traffic if a signal is introduced at the spot. These factors would be considered before taking a decision,” he said. G. Suresh, a resident of Kakkan Colony in Besant Nagar, who uses the bridge to go to the Taramani Institutional area, said that steps must be taken to remove encroachments, including a few houses and a temple on the Indira Nagar side.
“Right now, only a few vehicles are using it as not many know that the bridge is ready. When traffic increases, the houses on the Indira Nagar side would prove to be a bottleneck,” he said.
Sources in the civic body said the encroachments would be removed soon. The residents would be allotted houses in Slum Clearance Board tenements.
