Commuting on the city’s IT highway, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, is a struggle for most motorists. Be it for those travelling during rush hours or people preferring quieter times, the drive on the road, popularly known as OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), is still a tedious one — mainly due to Chennai Metro Rail taking up two lanes along the median and secondly, because of the poor condition of the road and service lanes, say motorists.
Kannan Bhakta, resident in Thoraipakkam, said that at all times, traffic has been there. “There are times when we wait at home watching Google Maps showing heavy traffic and leave after it clears. There seems to be no particular reason for traffic to slow down on OMR. It just has slowed down making our commutes longer,” he said.
Karthik Kannan, a resident of Sholinganallur, said that with the many traffic diversions, getting onto and off OMR was also a problem due to vehicles trying to go on the wrong side or parking at odd places.
“People try to drive via barricades blocking the main road and the service lane and don’t bother about inconveniencing other motorists. The number of traffic police too is very less and they are unable to cope with the vehicle population. Travelling on Medavakkam – Sholinganallur ralso takes a lot of time. ” Junctions on the road witness around 10,000 vehicles during rush hours.
In many places, where repairs have been done using cement concrete, the surface is not even, causing accidents, especially for two-wheeler riders. The junctions just before Perungudi toll and SRP Tools are in need of repairs. Pedestrians too have to battle it out with vehicles. Kalaivani, who works at a hospital, said with service lanes merged with the main carriageway, it was not safe for pedestrians to walk. Many times, buses come up from behind and blare the horns. They speed up on broad roads where there are no barricades along the median. It is really scary to walk during rush hour, she added.
Arunkumar Paramasivam, an engineer, who travels all the way to Ennore, says that even though the metro work has been causing trouble for people, it is a much needed facility. “They should have constructed a mass transport system like MRTS or Metrorail when the road was widened and IT Corridor was formed. It would have prevented many homes from purchasing cars. Those living near areas where local trains are available, they use two-wheelers for local commute and take the trains to reach the city,” he said.
A retired highways engineer said that if the public is put to undue misery, the government should step in, take up repairs and claim the amount from CMRL. This was done once when National Highways Authority of India stretches were poorly maintained. As far as a suggestion for a rail corridor was concerned, a detailed project report integrating an elevated corridor with a mass transport system was granted approval over a decade ago. But it never saw the light of day, he said.
A senior official the Chennai Metro Rail Limited said that they had taken up re-laying of roads that were damaged during the rain all over the city at locations wherever their work was underway. “We have also been re-laying the carriageway on OMR. Repairs have been taken up in damaged patches of the service lane too. Regular review meetings are being conducted with the traffic police and changes are being made accordingly,” the official said.
Published – January 26, 2025 01:04 am IST
