Cars headed for Chengalpet told to avoid Perungalathur

FESTIVE RUSH

Cars headed for Chengalpet told to avoid Perungalathur

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:01.11.2021

In order to avoid traffic congestion during the Diwali festival eve, the state transport department has advised private cars and taxis to avoid the Tambaram-Perungalathur route to reach Chengalpet.

Instead, vehicles have been asked to take either the Thirukazhukundram or Sriperumbudur routes to reach Chengalpet so that they can proceed towards Salem or Trichy.

“If they take this detour, motorists will be driving 25 km to 50 km extra. But the travel time will be more or less the same as Perungalathur will be congested due to movement of government special buses,” said a senior transport department official.

To avoid delays at Perungalathur, government buses (Diwali specials), which depart from Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) in Koyambedu, will not take the Maduravoyal Bypass Road to reach Perungalathur.

All these buses, which will carry reserved passengers from Chennai to other Tamil Nadu districts for the next four days (November 1 to 4), will travel along the Outer Ring Road (via Nazarathpet) to reach Urapakkam.

A temporary bus stand has been set up at Urapakkam to pick up passengers, who have booked their bus tickets from Perungulathur. Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), Chennai has arranged special buses to pick up passengers from Perungulathur and drop them at Urapakkam.

Besides this, MTC has arranged special buses round the clock from CMBT to four other temporary (special) bus stands setup in the city at Madhavaram (buses to Gummidipoondi), KK Nagar (Puducherry, Chidambaram), Tambaram (Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Tindivanam and Thiruvannamalai) and Poonamalle (Arani, Krishnagiri and Hosur).

According to official data, 9,808 government buses are expected to leave the city during the next four days.

“Trucks and heavy containers will be stopped at checkposts on national highway stretches in the city's suburbs if buses and cars need more time to leave Chennai. Or else it will result in a congestion at Sriperumbudur," said a Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP) official.

Police have requested highway authorities on Chennai-Trichy and Chennai-Bengaluru highways to earmark one lane in each toll plaza for buses so that the waiting time gets reduced.