Triplicane High Road is haunted by the same old story in the same three-kilometre stretch. Those residing at Ice House complain of overflowing garbage bins along the route, haphazard parking of vehicles and incomplete road work after a small stretch was dug up recently for laying underground cable.
All these civic issues have turned this route risky as motorcyclists vie for space with MTC buses and tankers.
Hundreds of motorists from Mylapore, Mandavali, Luz Corner and R. A. Puram use the stretch to reach key areas including Thousands lights, Royapettah, Anna Salai, Nungambakkam, Ice House, Triplicane and Egmore. The stretch also connects key bus routes. Dotted with many public facilities including the Triplicane Big Mosque, schools and commercial establishments, the area witness continuous flow of traffic.
“Due to poor traffic regulation, movement of vehicles is slow all through the day,” said B. Shankar, a motorist from Royapettah.
Triplicane High Road is an easy route to reach Anna Salai through interior lanes of Pycrofts Road in Royapettah and Peter’s Road in Thousand Lights. Originally a 60-ft-wide stretch, the Road is now half its width mainly due to encroachments including parking of vehicles and extension of commercial establishments.
Walk down the road and you will see the tiled footpath broken at several spots. Except on a small portion, around 100 metres, near the intersection of Triplicane High Road and Pycrofts Road in Zam Bazaar, the entire 3-km stretch does not have a median.
As widening of the stretch will involve huge costs, Triplicane High Road is left to fend for tself with old problems. Further, the entire stretch including the three key intersections — Ice House, Royapettah and Triplicane — does not have a traffic police constable to regulate traffic even during rush hour. Interestingly, two police stations – Ice House and Zam Bazaar – are located a few hundred metres away from the Triplicane High Road but the stretch does not have police personnel to regulate traffic.
“Steps will be taken to remove encroachments including illegal parking. Garbage on roadside bins will be removed on a daily basis,” said a Corporation official.
