A drive along Rajiv Gandhi Salai is increasingly turning out to be a painful experience, much to the dismay of motorists. The stretch that once re-defined motoring experience has lost its sheen, complain regular users.
A State Highway (No. 49) that links the heart of city’s south with the coastal tourist centre of Mamallapuram, a portion of it — from Madhya Kailash to Siruseri — is a pay-and-use stretch. Motorists who shell out money regularly while travelling on this stretch have been vocal about the deteriorating facilities.
Expressing his anger on ‘Friends of Chennai,’ the online forum of The Hindu that helps users highlight civic problems, M.S. Vydhi says: “The toll plazas established in the heart of OMR defy logic.” They add to existing problems, instead of solving them. “I recently travelled on the Worli – Bandra Sealink in Mumbai. We covered the stretch in just 20 minutes against the two hours that we would have taken to negotiate the traffic in Mumbai. On Rajiv Gandhi Salai, we spend close to an hour or even more to negotiate less than five kilometres during mornings and evenings and half the time is spent waiting to get past the toll plazas,” Mr. Vydhi says. The long queues at the ticket plazas also lead to waste of fuel, he notes.
Toll booths have also been set up on the Pallavaram – Thoraipakkam Radial Road and Perumbakkam Main Road that lead to Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Motorists on these approach roads have to pay for travelling just a few hundred metres on Rajiv Gandhi Salai before resuming their journey on non-toll roads. The road margins at the intersection of Radial Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai at Thoraipakkam are slushy and pedestrians face immense problems while getting past the stretch, Mr. Vydhi adds.
Officials at Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation (TNRDC) that manages the road say the tolling can be ended only if the money spent on the road is recovered. "As far as the service lanes are concerned, telecom companies and other service agencies are cutting and opening it regularly. We are taking steps to rectify the problems on the lane," officials say.
Highways Department officials say funds were allocated for improving the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial road and pavements, storm water drains will be constructed.
