500m stretch at Kelambakkam turns OMR traffic bottleneck

500m stretch at Kelambakkam turns OMR traffic bottleneck

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai:20.09.2021

Offices and educational institutions along OMR are resuming work and traffic snarls have begun paralysing Kelambakkam again.

A stretch of OMR that is barely 500m long and passes through the busy Kelambakkam market area continues to be a bottleneck for road users as the six-lane IT Corridor (Rajiv Gandhi Expressway) narrows down at this junction, leading to vehicles getting piled up for long distances in both directions during peak hours. Now, as a temporary solution, the authorities plan to throw open a portion of an unfinished bypass at Padur on OMR soon to divert traffic.

Two-wheelers encroaching upon the carriageway on either side of the road further shrink the motorable space, leading to traffic moving at a snail's pace. The lifeline linking the city with Thiruporur, the junction records a huge movement of vehicles including buses belonging to MTC, private colleges and companies. According to sources in the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), which laid OMR and maintains it, the stretch on an average records a daily movement of 60,000 vehicles. Of these, two-wheelers and cars account for about 35,000 and the rest are MTC buses, buses of private colleges and institutions and heavy vehicles.

Unless something is done fats, regular road users say, the traffic situation could worsen into that prevalent during pre-Covid times when vehicles are clogged during office hours in the morning and evenings. “Once all the IT sector employees return to their offices, it would lead to acute traffic snarls. The problem is only on the 500 metre stretch,” said S Dillibabu, an auto rickshaw driver said.

The laying of a bypass linking Padur near Kelambakkam and Kalavakkkam around Thiruporur, which commenced five years ago, is stuck in issues of land acquisition, with only three km of the 13-km-long road completed. Kuppan, a resident of Padur, said work on the bypass been completed within the scheduled time, Kelambakkam would not have suffered due to traffic. “The deserted road is used by a few for illegal bike racing,” he said. Pieces of broken liquor bottles can be found at one end of the completed portion.

When contacted, official sources in the TNRDC said that a portion of the 13-km bypass would be thrown open for traffic in a week. “This three kilometre portion of the bypass road linking Padur with Kelambakkam-Kovalam Road will reduce the traffic burden at Kelambakkam Junction as 25% of the vehicles can be diverted,” the official said.

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