The Big Tank Bund Road, which was commissioned by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on June 8 through video conferencing from Chennai, has been closed to traffic. The civic body placed barricades on Thursday night following complaints of two-wheeler riders falling off vehicles while trying to negotiate the slippery surface. This is the second time they are closing the road to traffic, as the first closure was for taking up the work to fix the paver blocks that had chipped off the surface
The Coimbatore Corporation had constructed the 1.20 km paver block-topped road after taking up the proposal over a year ago. Initially it said that the road was only for two-wheelers as allowing four-wheelers and heavy vehicles would compromise the bund strength. As for allowing two-wheelers, the Corporation said that it had taken expert opinion and also carried out bund-strengthening measures.
The Corporation sources have hinted that there could be a rethink on allowing two-wheelers to use the road. Discussions were under way at the official level. Once a decision was arrived at, the civic body would inform the public. Senior officials confirmed to The Hindu that there was a re-think in the Corporation – whether to throw open the road for two-wheelers or restrict it to bicycle riders and walkers. But that would depend on a committee constituted for the purpose.
The committee would have engineers from the Corporation and also faculty from engineering institutions. The papers for constituting the committee would be prepared shortly and things would be set in motion in the next few days. But as yet the civic body had not taken a decision, they added.
