Potholes cause chaos on road linking Medavakkam, Sholinganallur: residents

A post on X by Gowdhaman on Wednesday had gone viral. “Thanks a lot @mkstalin for helping me to reach office on time. Today I took just 1 hour 10 Min to reach 5 Kms from Pallikaranai to Sholinganallur. Good thing is world class roads and beauty is no path holes. Once again thanks a lot. Special thanks to South Chennai MP,” he said.

Jyothsna Jayanand, who drops her son at a school in Perumbakkam, said that she took 45 minutes to reach the institution on that day. “We usually take 20 minutes since it is quite early in the day. But at times, our journey gets extended by 10 minutes. It is very exhausting to watch the chaos on the road, and we just want to get out of there as quickly as possible,” she said.

The narrow road that has commercial establishments on either side, and several roads cutting across to connect to neighbouring localities, seems to be taking vehicles beyond acceptable volumes.

Satheesh K. of Pallikaranai, who takes the road to office, said with traffic pouring from all directions near the Amma Meen shop junction and church junction, two-wheeler riders take to the platform with no other option. “They ride on the wrong side without bothering about other vehicles, and nobody stops them. There is hardly any regulation at the U-turn introduced for people coming from the Medavakkam side. On top of that, both CMRL and TNEB have made adjacent road cuts, causing the traffic to crawl,” he said.

Sandeep Doraisami, another commuter, said he chose the route despite the potholes and congestion, since it was better than the Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial Road. “I take the radial road in the mornings, and the Sholinganallur road in the evenings. People park on the road causing traffic to slow down. EB lines and junction boxes also take up space. When it rains, pedestrians and two-wheeler riders are the most affected as bigger vehicles end up splashing them with water and slush,” he said.

A former Highways engineer recalled that the road was a two-lane wide facility till 2007, when it was widened. “Since there is a waterbody on one side, further widening is not possible. The lack of road user culture, misuse of the carriageway for parking vehicles or extending shops all cause distress to road users. Shops and commercial establishments do not provide parking spaces for vehicles coming to their premises. Once the CMRL work is completed, some relief might be felt. The area has a lot of shops and other establishments; local bodies must provide multi-level parking for cars and two-wheelers.”