Traffic slowed down in several areas of the city as AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa took over as Chief Minister on Monday morning.
Portions of several roads including Kamaraj Salai, Swami Sivananda Salai, and Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai were closed for traffic.
Aminjikarai resident E. Ravi said it took him an hour and a half to cover the distance from Taj Coromandel to Gemini flyover.
“I was on a two-wheeler and though I rode on the footpath for some distance, I reached the junction at 1 p.m. Barricades had been placed on Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai and people were so irritated that a few men removed a barricade and others followed suit,” he said.
Motorists stuck on various roads complained of the heat radiating from cars whose engines were kept running. People waiting to have a glimpse of the CM on Marina Beach had to cope with the searing heat. “Since there are no trees offering shade we decided to walk to our vehicles rather than waiting on the side. But when we walked among the vehicles, the heat was so intense in the spaces between cars,” complained a woman, who was walking with a child in her arms.
S Devanathan, a commuter said that he had been stuck on Kamaraj Salai for over an hour.
“The police there were diverting traffic into the bylanes nearby and we had to navigate our way through after that. There was no proper planning to manage traffic given that an event of such a large scale was taking place,” he said.
Law and Order policemen were seen executing this traffic diversion work. The traffic problem on Kamaraj Salai had largely been caused by being parked along the service lanes and on the sides of the road.
With traffic coming to a standstill there, a person in need of medical help was seen trying to walk, picking his way through the traffic.
Commuters who were coming from Adyar and Kotturpuram were stuck on Adyar Bridge and also faced a traffic snarl in Royapettah.
Traffic movement was considerably hit on Walajah Road too.
