Reduced road width, congestion leave commuters high and dry

Chennai Metro Rail project causing traffic chaos in Purasawalkam, Otteri, and Perambur, affecting commuters, businesses, and residents.

M. Narayanan, a working professional, who often travels from Perambur to Purasawalkam, skips the bus and takes a share autorickshaw nowadays. “Earlier, it would take me about 15 minutes to reach Purasawalkam from Perambur, but now it takes half-an-hour to 40 minutes to travel to Millers Road at peak hours. If I travel by bus, the ride will be even longer, and hence I go by the share autorickshaw now,” he says.

Like him, commuters, businessmen, and residents have been left high and dry because of numerous problems that have cropped up owing to the Metro Rail project in areas in and around Purasawalkam, Otteri, and Perambur.

The Metro Rail phase II project has now spread to almost every part of the city since its length is about 116 km across three corridors: Madhavaram-SIPCOT (corridor 3), Light House-Poonamallee (corridor 4), and Madhavaram-Sholinganallur (corridor 5).

Traffic diversions came into effect in and around Purasawalkam, Otteri and Perambur for the work on the underground stations to be taken up. These areas will have an underground Metro Rail network under corridor 3. Be it walking to a bus station, waiting for a bus or autorickshaw, or the travel time, every part of commuting has gotten tough after the work began and the diversions came into effect, say commuters.

Many of the problems that emerged at Mylapore and Nungambakkam from the Metro Rail work plague Purasawalkam and Otteri too. The space on some of the roads has shrunk significantly and the narrow roads take in heavy traffic. Commuters find it frustrating to take detours and grapple with traffic congestion at peak hours.

“The space dedicated to the footpath is not only limited, but it is often not a straight path and irregular; the road surface is uneven, and anyone can trip. More traffic policemen are required at the Millers Road-Brick Kiln Road-Purasawalkam High Road junction. Vehicles come in a haphazard way simultaneously and traffic violations occur at this junction often. There is no pedestrian crossing either,” Mr. Narayanan says.

On a stretch of Strahans Road, the road space has been eaten up by the Metro Rail construction site, and only a tiny path is available for commuters to walk and vehicles to ply.