Ward Watch: Road users feel left out

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FEELING THE HEAT: The absence of a bus shelter is a great inconvenience to commuters at Little Mount. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy.

Lack of bus shelters, inadequate and uneven walkers’ paths, encroachments and traffic chaos are among the problems faced by the residents and road-users in Ward 171, located in the heart of the city.

The areas and roads in this ward include Little Mount, Sardar Patel Road, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Venkat Narayana Road, North Boag Road, Anna Salai, and CIT Nagar.

Pedestrians have to be careful when walking on pavements on Sardar Patel Road near Gandhi Nagar, near the intersection of Sardar Patel Road, and Gandhi Mandapam Road and on the western side of the arterial stretch near Indian Institute of Technology–Madras.

“There is not enough space for pedestrians and we are forced to walk on the road and constantly watch out for speeding vehicles. Walkers on both sides of the arterial stretch risk getting knocked down by speeding vehicles,” said C. Ramakrishna, a resident of Gandhi Nagar.

The wide pavements on Gandhi Mandapam Road are unfit for use as they are uneven, pedestrians say. Encroachments by vendors also reduce the space for pedestrians. The footpaths too are not maintained, complained residents.

Similarly, the designated wide walking space for pedestrians on Venkat Narayana Road in T. Nagar has also been encroached upon. Near the Thanikachalam Road-Burkit Road intersection, the walking space has become a parking slot. Walkers crossing the intersection have to navigate between vehicles at the signal to proceed towards Pondy Bazaar and T. Nagar.

Lack of bus shelters

Lack of bus shelters at Little Mount and Gandhi Nagar forces commuters to stand in the open. It is a deeply uncomfortably experience for commuters, especially during the afternoon and summer months. “The situation is worse during the afternoon when the frequency of bus services is low. We are forced to wait in the heat for more than 10 minutes,” R. Shantha Thiagarajan, a commuter, complained.

The non-functioning of traffic signals at the intersection of North Boag Road, Vijayaraghava Road, and Dr. B. Narasimhan Road, T. Nagar, is another major source of worry for road users.