‘Nolambur Union Road will undermine effectiveness of two new bridges’

Nolambur Union Road which runs along the Couum river bank, is tasked with distributing traffic from these two bridges originating at Poonamallee High Road, into the interior roads of Mogappair and Nolambur. This road can serve its calling only if attention is paid to its bottlenecks, says Nolambur resident Umanath V.

Two new bridges originating at Ponnamallee High Road that are designed to ease traffic movement in interior sections of Mogappair and Nolambur might end up aggravating the congestion problem they are meant to resolve. The likely fallout would not result from any factor intrinsic to these two bridges, but one extraneous to them. 

Nolambur Union Road running along the Couum river bank has the weighty task of distributing traffic from these two bridges into the interior roads. And this road resembles a poorly squeezed toothpaste tube, narrow in parts, in one place as narrow as 18 feet. This road has wider sections, which amounts to zero benefit, as the congestion in the narrow sections would have a ripple effect affecting them too. Encroachments along the Couum river bank are taking bites out of Nolambur Union road. 

Let us now step back and take in these two bridges, one inaugurated and the other nearing completion. 

A bottleneck on Nolambur Union Road along the Cooum river bank. | Photo Credit: Umanath V.

Opened six months ago, the first bridge connects Poonamallee High Road with Chinna Nolambur. The second bridge, larger and under construction, links Maduravoyal Ration Shop area on Poonamallee High Road to Nolambur Union Road. Roughly around 500 to 700 metres would separate the two bridges. 

These bridges are aimed at providing a fluid road trip for residents in the interior sections of Mogappair and Nolambur to Poonamallee High Road. It is clearly a shorter, therefore quicker route to the arterial road. At present, these residents hugely rely on the service lane of the 200-feet Bypass Road, and this route is circuitous requiring motorists to drive in the opposite direction for around two kilometres before turning towards Poonamalee High Road.