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A nightmare called Vayalur road

Traffic congestion is a common sight on Vayalur Main Road, which is struggling to cope with the boom in vehicle population.Photo: M. Moorthy

Once a rural stretch, it now links newly sprung residential colonies to downtown areas
The road connecting Vayalur with Puthur is probably the worst road in Tiruchi at the moment in terms of giving nightmarish experience to motorists and residents of various colonies along both sides. The reason is simple. The road, which was formed to cater to the needs of a few buses bound for Thogamalai, Vayalur, Somarasampettai and a few other villages, is struggling to cope up with the exponential growth of vehicle population and new residential colonies that sprang up in the recent past.

Long-term residents of Kumaran Nagar and Seenivasa Nagar recall that it was a rural (village) road until 30 to 35 years ago, catering mainly to the needs of farmers transporting agricultural produce and fertilizers by bullock carts. It was slowly upgraded by forming ‘thar’ road to facilitate smooth ride for passenger vehicles, goods transport and others. In the process, the road was widened by four to five feet about 10 years ago.

There has been no improvement thereafter, except clearing of encroachments on both sides and marks made for reported land aquisition to widen the road. Local residents, who face nightmarish experience whenever they use the Puthur-Vayalur road either by own vehicles or by public transport, rue that the departments concerned, including highways, Tiruchi City Corporation and other line departments, had not bothered to come up with a solid proposal to clear the traffic bottleneck. The two-lane road and absence of provisions to allow the residents of colonies to join the main road from lanes have been really testing their patience. With traffic snarls becoming order of the day, the unmotivated spot fights among motorists have become common sight. Motorists have been forced to spend more than 45 minutes to reach Somarasampettai from Puthur, which requires just 5 to 10 minutes in normal conditions.

“The stretch from Puthur-Somarasampettai has seen exponential growth over the last 25 years. But there has been no significant improvement in road development,” says S. Boopathi, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Customs, who is a long-time resident of Seenivasa Nagar.

Recollecting the traffic woes faced in various parts of the Tiruchi about 15 years ago, he said the construction of railway overbridges in four locations of the city had actually helped in solving the problems to a great extent. Construction of flyover would be the permanent and long-term solution to the traffic crisis on Vayalur road. Widening of road by at least 15 feet would be a temporary solution. Ministers, MPs, MLAs representing Tiruchi and the officials concerned should take immediate steps to find a lasting solution at least now, Mr. Boopathi added.

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