Poles on middle of road pose a threat

They are placed on two uneven rows on New Jail Road

Electric poles that cause confusion among vehicle users on New Jail Road in Madurai.

Barring some roads like Bypass Road, Panagal Road and stretches of a few other roads, Madurai city is perhaps not renowned for its wide roads.

However, even some of these wide roads seem to be often poorly maintained, thereby reducing the carriageway for the motorists.

A case in point is the roughly 400-metre stretch of the New Jail Road which has electric poles placed on two uneven rows on the middle of the road, leading to confusion for the commuters.

With the two rows of poles, one along the left side of the road while going from Karimedu towards Arasaradi junction and the other along a roughly one-third portion of the carriageway, commuters allege that they often get confused whether to use the fairly wide stretch between these two rows of poles.

“Though the stretch is meant for commuting, there is often a confusion since some of the vehicles going towards Arasaradi junction use this portion of the road while the other vehicles going in the same direction use the remaining two-third portion of the road where there is movement in the opposite direction as well,” said N. Pandiselvam, a cab driver.

S. Ramkumar, an auto driver, said that it leads to confusion for the vehicles coming in the opposite direction from Arasaradi towards Karimedu as well.

“Some vehicles, particularly trucks and other heavy vehicles, occupy the entire two-third stretch of the road, assuming that vehicles going towards Arasadi would use the remaining portion of the road between the two rows of poles. But they have to reduce speed when they suddenly see vehicles coming straight to them from the opposite direction,” he said.

Importantly, a traffic police personnel said that the road poses a serious risk for motorists at night since the poles on the middle of the road do not have prominently-placed reflectors to show their presence.

“Despite the presence of Madurai Central Jail, the street lamps often fail to work in the stretch, making it difficult for motorists to spot these poles and consequently could lead to accidents,” he said.

Demanding that Tangedco, Madurai Corporation or the relevant authorities should take steps to move the poles out of the road, he said, “Otherwise, they should at least construct a median along the row of poles to clearly indicate their presence and show which portion of the road the vehicles moving in both the directions should use.”