The wait time at the Tidel Park junction for many motorists is set to come down with Tamil Nadu Road Development Company, the agency maintaining Rajiv Gandhi Salai, taking up work to create more space for vehicles.
Following suggestions from the Police Department, the TNRDC is reducing the size of the two traffic islands and the pavements near the intersection of West Avenue and Rajiv Gandhi Salai. West Avenue, which connects L.B.Road, receives considerable traffic flow during rush hour. On an average, about 30,000 vehicles use the junction every day.
According to TNRDC officials, the project has been taken up at a cost of Rs.15 lakh. The area of the traffic islands is being reduced by two metres each.
With the decrease in the size of traffic island, the road width at the junction would increase from 10 metre to 12 metre. Many motorists said it takes up to 45 minutes to cross the junction during rush hours. Advocate K.Ravi, a resident of Perungudi, said: “I use this road daily to reach Adyar. I wait for at least 15 minutes at the TIDEL Park junction because of traffic congestion. This arrangement would ease the congestion a little. The officials must come out with a permanent solution such as constructing a flyover at the junction,” he said. In a bid to facilitate a smooth ‘U' turn for vehicles, particularly buses, from Madhya Kailash bound to CPT campus and other companies, the footpath width on the side of TIDEL Park is also being reduced. Work is on to reduce the width from 2.5 m to 1.5 m, an official said.
A bus bay is also being created along the Buckingham canal near the junction to allow more road space for motorists from LB Road proceeding to SRP Tools on the road. At present, buses that halt near the junction cause traffic pile-up. The 2.5 m wide and 75 metre long footpath would be shifted to accommodate the bus bay.
Once the bus bay is created, an additional 5.5 metre road space would be available for the motorists, the official said. The project would be completed in 10 days.
