Pycrofts Road continues to battle old problems

A cluster of vehicles parked on the Bharathi salai, formerly Pycrofts Road, Triplicane in Chennai, on May 04, 2006. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

For a long time now, the one-kilometre-long Pycrofts Road is plagued by the problems of increasing vehicular movement, broken footpaths, illegal parking on both sides and dumping of garbage.

Road users have been putting up with these issues in silence. But the time has come to do those things that can be done to make things easier for road users.

Corporation officials say that most of the buildings on the road are more than a century old. Acquisition of land for widening of the stretch is difficult due to this factor as well as the prices of real estate there.

However, there are other problems that can be addressed.

Arrangements for parking of vehicles in spaces nearby can be made to prevent illegal parking on both sides of the stretch.

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significant portion of the carriageway in this 60-feet-wide road is out of bounds for motorists due to illegal parking. This problem cannot be missed around the Zam Bazaar market, where illegal parking of vehicles on the road leaves motorists on the move with little space. Often, vehicles moving in opposite directions cannot pass each other comfortably.

The footpaths are actually wide but don’t serve pedestrians. Wares from shops are placed there.

Garbage and other perishable wastes were dumped on the roadside, which makes the stretch smelly, and smellier during monsoon.

It is said that visitors to a mall in the area park their motorcycles along Pycroft’s Road and other streets to avoid paying parking fee at the facility.

“Alternative parking arrangements will be made soon. Other steps to free up space for motorists and pedestrians will also be taken soon,” says a Corporation official.