Mad rush: Roads out of city gridlocked for 100 km

Mad rush: Roads out of city gridlocked for 100 km 

Traffic Snarl Extends Till Ulundurpet 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  31.10.2024 

Chennai : A large number of people deciding to spend Diwali in their hometowns resulted in back-breaking traffic logjams on roads leading out of the city on Wednesday. Traffic congestion stretched far beyond Perungalathur, Vandalur and Chengalpet, extending upto 100 km till Tindivanam. Vehicles crawled for another 100 km toward Ulundurpet, stuck in queues behind buses and trucks. South-bound cars took five hours to cross this stretch on Tuesday. Over one lakh vehicles passed through the Paranur toll plaza in the last 36 hours, with even more expected on Wednesday night. 

Many travellers started their journey as early as 5 am on Wednesday in hopes of avoiding the crowd, but the bottleneck, which began at Perungalathur on Tuesday night, continued with no end in sight. After the state govt announced that schools would have half-day sessions on Wednesday, many parents opted to leave earlier than planned, adding to the traffic volume. Despite traffic police urging private cars to avoid the GST road and use Old Mahabalipuram Road to reach Chengalpet, many drivers ignored the advice, worsening the chaos along the Kilambakkam stretch.

Although the govt announced highway patrols every ten kilometres, motorists said patrols were minimal after Chengalpet. “Bikers cutting across lanes on national highways, designed for high-speed travel, added to the chaos,” said Arulmurugan, who spent nine hours driving to Madurai. 

Samay Singh Meena, DCP (traffic) in Tambaram, said 440 police officers were deployed to regulate traffic at Kilambakkam and Tambaram, and diversions were introduced at Maduravoyal and Poonamallee from Wednesday afternoon. “Heavy vehicles were restricted from using GST Road,” he added. Over 4.5 lakh passengers departed from Kilambakkam bus terminus in the last three days. Chennai Egmore and Central railway stations were packed too as Southern Railway operated three unreserved special trains to Trichy and Coimbatore to handle the last-minute rush.