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Call to widen city roads

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Trichy’s population has jumped from 7.52 lakh in 2001 to 9.84 lakh in 2017, according to a data with the civic body. The number of vehicles in the city has also witnessed a parallel growth, but not the condition of the city roads; on the contrary they have become narrow because of the unchecked encroachments. Apart from encroachments, the absence of a proper strategy to improve the capacity of roads to facilitate seamless traffic was cited as a reason for the recurring traffic snarls in Trichy.
According to the state transport department here, on an average around 270 vehicles are being registered a day in the three regional transport offices in the city. Among them around 75% are two-wheelers. According to RTO statistics, as on April 2017, as many as 7.35 lakh two-wheelers were registered in the city.

Sources said that the number of two-wheelers getting registered increase every year by 5%. But, in past few years the city has not seen any road widening works except in some limited stretches. "Heber Road connecting Palakkarai with Cantonment can be widened once the encroachments are evicted. The road is wide enough for public transportation but encroachments are blocking the vehicular movement," said V B Jeganath, member, Trichy Intra-City Development Endeavours (TIDES).

Heber Road, maintained by the civic body, is plagued with encroachments and haphazard parking of two-wheelers. Besides Heber Road, Vayalur Road managed by the state highways department also needs widening. Citing constraints in procuring land and other resources, authorities have been shying away from widening Vayalur Road, Thennur High Road and Puthur High Road. The highways department officials maintained that except Thanjavur Main Road near Palpannai, no other expansions plans are in their checklist. Trichy Corporation has also made it clear that it has no road widening plans apart from the Karur bypass under Smart City Mission.

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