A few days ago, two container lorries headed to Chennai Port toppled over on S.N. Chetty Street on the Ennore Expressway after the tyres came in contact with big potholes.
Such accidents are common on the expressway as the road is severely damaged. The bad road apart, a thick cloud of dust rising from the potholed surface causes much inconvenience to motorists plying the stretch.
The dust has increased after the recent rains. By the time they reach Tiruvottiyur, their faces are caked with dirt, motorists said.
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“Traffic slows down considerably if there is an accident. Hundreds of trucks use the road every day and there is at least one accident here every week,” said K. Shanmugam, a fisherman. The problem is severe, especially in front of the Kasimedu fishing harbour.
“The road from the Kasimedu junction is hardly ever swept. Corporation workers come every Monday but they do not remove the dust. Maybe this road is not considered important enough to be cleaned every day like the areas in Adyar, Alwarpet or Anna Nagar,” said Aasaithambi, an autorickshaw driver at Kasimedu junction.
S.N. Chetty Street, which is quite broad in most places, has a row of wedding halls, and the road there is swept more frequently.
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S. N. Chetty Street runs into the Ennore Expressway, which is managed by the National Highways Authority of India. “It is quite wide but there are bad patches on this road. Stretches near Savorit Semiya, NTO Kuppam and the two petrol bunks are awful. Thousands of schoolchildren take this road every day to reach their schools,” said V. Rajkumar, a resident of Tiruvottiyur.
Sources in the Chennai Corporation said steps had been initiated to fill up potholes with debris. “We will ensure that sweeping is done on a regular basis,” said an official.