Major effort to ease traffic congestion at Thiruvanaikovil
TIRUCHI: In a major initiative to ease traffic congestion on Thiruvanaikovil Trunk Road, the State Highways Department on Saturday carried out an encroachment eviction drive.
The drive, conducted with tight police protection, was carried out between Mambazhasalai and the Coleroon checkpost. Unauthorised structures put up by shopkeepers on either side of the road were demolished using earthmovers.
The move comes in the wake of repeated complaints from residents and the public over the congestion on the road.
Most of the shops had extended their space onto the roads by up to three to four feet. This was posing a major problem as the road was already a narrow one. Though the police had introduced a diversion for mofussil buses via Kumbakonathan Salai, there was no respite.
The problem was aggravated by town bus crew who have made it a habit to halt their vehicles on the roadinside of the designated bus shelter. The Thiruvanaikovil bus shelter, though located well away from the road, was hardly put to use. On the other side, a similar problem prevailed as the bus halt was located close to the Srirangam Gandhi Road-Thiruvanaikovil traffic intersection.
The Highways Department has now planned to relocate the bus halts and construct new bays on both the sides, well away from the existing ones in an attempt to prevent parking of buses on the road, M. Ambedkar, Divisional Engineer, Highways, told The Hindu. The new bays are to be built once the electric posts are shifted.
T. Sathyamoothy, Assistant Divisional Engineer, who supervised the eviction drive, said unauthorised structures, comprising mainly projections, put up in front of 200 shops were removed. This would provide about three to four feet of additional space for vehicles plying on the road, he said.
The drive, conducted with tight police protection, was carried out between Mambazhasalai and the Coleroon checkpost. Unauthorised structures put up by shopkeepers on either side of the road were demolished using earthmovers.
The move comes in the wake of repeated complaints from residents and the public over the congestion on the road.
Most of the shops had extended their space onto the roads by up to three to four feet. This was posing a major problem as the road was already a narrow one. Though the police had introduced a diversion for mofussil buses via Kumbakonathan Salai, there was no respite.
The problem was aggravated by town bus crew who have made it a habit to halt their vehicles on the roadinside of the designated bus shelter. The Thiruvanaikovil bus shelter, though located well away from the road, was hardly put to use. On the other side, a similar problem prevailed as the bus halt was located close to the Srirangam Gandhi Road-Thiruvanaikovil traffic intersection.
The Highways Department has now planned to relocate the bus halts and construct new bays on both the sides, well away from the existing ones in an attempt to prevent parking of buses on the road, M. Ambedkar, Divisional Engineer, Highways, told The Hindu. The new bays are to be built once the electric posts are shifted.
T. Sathyamoothy, Assistant Divisional Engineer, who supervised the eviction drive, said unauthorised structures, comprising mainly projections, put up in front of 200 shops were removed. This would provide about three to four feet of additional space for vehicles plying on the road, he said.
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