The temporary bus stand, which has been created at the Exhibition Grounds following the closure of the Junction bus stand for expediting construction of an ultramodern bus terminus under the Smart City programme, became operational on Thursday.
The Junction bus stand, which was created in 1956 on 4.25 acres, is all stet to get a makeover on an outlay of ₹ 78.99 crore. So the 63-year-old structures in and around the terminus have been razed to facilitate construction of new bus stand with shopping mall with 144 shops and parking bay in the basement to handle 106 cars and 1,629 bikes.
When the work was started, city and west-bound buses were allowed to park around the Junction bus stand to pick up and drop passengers. It was felt that parking of buses around the construction site caused traffic snarl quite frequently and it was decided to shift the bus stand to a temporary terminus created at the Exhibition Grounds.
Since the Exhibition Ground would become slushy during rain, paver blocks have been laid in the temporary terminus where shelters for commuters, drinking water, lights and toilets have been created. A police outpost has also been opened.
As buses going from Palayamkottai to Tirunelveli Town should stop at the designated spot between Thevar Statue signal and Anna Statue signal to drop or take passengers, a temporary stop with a shelter has been created at this spot with paver block. As the road at this spot is very narrow, halting of buses at this point create traffic jam quite often and motorists urge to the traffic police to depute policemen at this point between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. to ensure smooth movement of vehicles by asking drivers to move vehicles immediately after passengers board buses.
