The eight-kilometre-long Mangadu–Poonamallee High Road is becoming dangerous for motorists as the narrow stretch is ridden with potholes and has many sharp curves. At night, poor illumination adds to the danger. These factors make the road, maintained by State Highways Department, highly accident-prone.
“The stretch does not have any safety features like reflectors, especially at narrow bends. Speed breakers are not visible due to the absence of zebra-crossing markings. Too many entrances between medians encourage jaywalking, which results in accidents,” said a traffic police posted at the stretch.
Many accidents, especially those at night, are the result of sharp curves including the one near the Mangadu–Poonamallee junction. Old sodium vapour lamps have not been replaced with LED lamps, leaving the stretch poorly illuminated. Moreover, those sodium vapour lamps are burning only at a few spots while the rest of the stretch are brightened up by the lights from the shops located on both sides of the road.
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Every day, hundreds of motorists from Kundrathur, Gerungambakkam, Poonamallee, Kattupakkam, Mangadu and neighbouring villages including Akkambakkam, Moorasavakkam, Ariyaperumbakkam, Thamal, Ayyanarkulam, Arsur, Kalakattur, Kamarajapuram, Keelapi and Kooram villages within the Kundrathur Panchayat Union use the stretch to reach many other parts of the city via the Porur junction using Arcot Road and Mount–Poonamallee High Road.
“The stretch is a lifeline for us because it gives us easy connectivity to places like Porur and Vadapalani from where we can travel to other parts of the city for work,” said K. Sundaravalli, a resident of Kundrathur.
Residents want the stretch to be relaid with bitumen and adequate safety facilities created. It is a key stretch connecting several villages around large neighbourhoods like Porur, Poonamallee, Kundrathur with areas that come under Greater Chennai Corporation limits.
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Residents from these localities travel to areas within Corporation limits to avail better healthcare, education and other facilities.
In fact, even to sell their farm produce, residents, who are mostly farmers, have to travel on the stretch to reach the big markets at Valasaravakkam, Porur, Poonamallee and also the Koyambedu Wholesale Market Complex.
“Steps will be taken to provide adequate facilities on the stretch and ensure it is safe to everyone,” said a State Highways official.