After a two-year-long wait, residents of Second Avenue Main Road have finally begun to receive “digital assistance” while navigating the key junctions there.
A week ago, the busy junctions on this two-kilometre-long road, which connects Tirumangalam junction with the Anna Nagar roundtana, received traffic signals, and this development has put an end to residents’ and other road users’ complete reliance on manual traffic regulation.
Some of these junctions are: Blue Star junction, Ayyappan temple junction, 12th Main Road intersection and Anna Nagar roundtana.
Earlier, due to the absence of traffic singals at these junctions, more than 30 traffic police personnel would be deployed on Second Avenue Main Road, on a daily basis.
In February 2017, following the completion of underground Metro Rail work in the locality, Second Avenue Main Road was made two-way. Despite it being a two-way, it was manned manually, the reason being the delay in the sanctioning of traffic signals.
During rush hour, on an average, around 8,000 motorists use the stretch now. Earlier, when vehicular traffic would be thin, motorists themselves would regulate the traffic and there have been minor accidents and traffic snarls on account of this well-meaning but amateurish effort at traffic regulation.
There is another factor that has been contributing significantly to the traffic congestion — vehicles, especially cars, being parked on both sides of the road. In the evening hours, shoppers park their cars along the stretch.
Ever since this section became a part of a functioning Metro Rail network, business has been brisk at the commercial establishments on Second Avenue Main Road.
Now, with the installation of new traffic signals on the busy road has not only eased traffic movement, but has also enabled the additional traffic police personnel deployed there to be sent back to their respective police stations, which include Aminjikarai, Arumbakkam, Tirumangalam and Anna Nagar police stations.
“Installation of traffic signals has reduced traffic violations, especially jumping junctions. Traffic also moves much faster on the stretch now,” says K. Prakash, a motorist from Anna Nagar.
