Unending problem: Traffic congestion is high on arterial roads such as Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, Poonamallee High Road, and Anna Salai. A scene on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai near Thirumangalam, Anna Nagar, on a Sunday in February.
| Photo Credit: M. Vedhan
The Tamil Nadu government is set to take important decisions to ease traffic congestion in Chennai. Chief Secretary N. Muruganantham recently chaired a meeting of a high-level committee to work out solutions. Bridges and road improvement are expected to be taken up soon.
Porur resident S. Saravanan says congestion is high near the Koyambedu Grade Separator, near the Vijayakant memorial, on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai.
Maduravoyal resident N. Ramesh says the temporary markets on Poonamallee High Road near the Metro Rail office are holding up the traffic. Many residents have complained about encroachments on roads. The roads connecting the central zones to the southern zones are congested. The Greater Chennai Corporation’s proposal to widen these roads has been shelved. Those who take the Inner Ring Road say that despite the implementation of Metro Rail along the stretch, traffic congestion occurs near Ekkattuthangal.
Anna Nagar ward 104 councillor T.V. Shemmozhi says traffic congestion is high on many stretches of Anna Nagar.
On a Sunday this February, traffic congestion was high on Jawaharlal Nehru Salai, Poonamallee High Road, and Anna Salai. Motorists covered 16 km of Anna Salai from the airport in 36 minutes at 8 p.m. During the same time, motorists covered 16 km of Jawaharlal Nehru Salai in 39 minutes. A motorist covered 16 km from Guindy to Valluvar Kottam in 38 minutes. Congestion was high in areas like Saidapet.
Accidents increasing
Residents also highlight increasing road accidents in some parts. Last week, a 40-year-old person died in an accident on Ennore Expressway near the Tiruvottiyur High Road junction. “Five persons have died in accidents at the same spot,” says a resident.
K.P. Subramanian, Anna University’s former professor of urban engineering, says, “The road traffic scenario in Chennai is marked by congestion, delay, pollution, and accidents. These can be primarily attributed to encroachment of road spaces, indiscriminate and haphazard parking of vehicles, lack of inter-institutional coordination, and a top-down approach towards traffic management without consultation with stakeholders.”
Encroachments
“Parking is the most picking problem of all. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has recently resolved to levy a parking fee for unauthorised parking through a public-private participation model. A similar measure is required to deal with other encroachments. Multiple institutions are responsible for the road transport system within the Greater Chennai Corporation. However, there is no single department that can take responsibility for any flaw like accidents. There was a traffic management committee in the 1990s under the chairmanship of the Chief Engineer of the Chennai Corporation. Highways engineers and officials of the traffic police, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and other bodies were members of the committee. Traffic management decisions were taken by the committee. A traffic engineering and management wing of the Highways Department studied traffic problems in the city and suggested solutions. Consultations with the stakeholders are the bottom line in successful traffic management. Without the cooperation of road-users, no rule can be successfully enforced. In the present context, a similar committee may be constituted under the chairpersonship of the Mayor, with a greater thrust on the inclusion of auto and taxi drivers, NGOs, and peoples’ representatives”.
K. Kumar, former Chief Planner of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and visiting faculty member of the Department of Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, says, “The root of every traffic woe is the unbridled growth and use of cars. Until and unless the efforts and energies are directed at tackling this, every investment made might be rendered infructuous… Despite moving people rather than vehicles being the essence of the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP), it is scarcely embedded in the urban transportation infrastructure investment plan or policy of Chennai or many other Indian cities.”
Pointing to the inadequate bus transport in Chennai, he says, “The glaring example is the omission of adequate investment in the urban bus. A city that cries for a minimum fleet of 12,400 buses by the national bus-population norm is struggling to move commuters with just under the same 3,300 buses for a decade or more with a good share of them not roadworthy. That despite a raft of feasibility studies for implementing Bus Rapid Transit System along arterial roads, carried out with taxpayers’ money in the past 10 years, the government lacked the will to implement any of them is another tale of woe. The global trend of most developed cities going car-free must urge the policymakers to rejig the urban transport planning… Stay updated with the latest news by following our website at http://gen88.com/
Published – March 02, 2025 10:52 pm IST