G.N. Chetty Road: A minor tweak can lead to a major benefit for motorists

Space around G.N. Chetty see some improvement measures taken up; motorists say a lot more can be done to make this stretch more safe

When Deepavali was fast approaching, a new traffic plan was clamped in place at the GN Chetty Road junction, which is parked under a flyover. The regular onward flow of traffic from Thirumalai Pilla Road to Dr. Nair Road and vice versa was discontinued.

Vehicular traffic would instead orbit around the junction, moving from one road to the other. Movement of traffic into Dr. Nair from Thirmulai Pillai Road was routed through what was now a discontinued U-turn at the junction. In the days that followed, the arrangement evolved with a new U-turn being hewed out of the parking space under the flyover.

A section of the low median was torn down for the purpose. While this enhancement has addressed one issue, another continues to stick out like a a sore thumb when vehicular traffic is thick on the ground. The space for vehicles to move from Thirumalai Pilla Road to Dr. Nair Road is narrow. This space has been divided between four-wheelers and two-wheelers, as seen by a barricade placed out there to “cleave” it into two sections. Right next to this pathway for vehicles is a temporary structure, one functioning as the waiting room for R4 Pondy Bazaar traffic police. This temporary structure is flanked by a permanent brick-and-mortar structure from where the traffic police personnel attend to workday concerns. By shifting the temporary structure (which houses the waiting room) to the other side of the permanent structure, greater and much-needed space could be created for the vehicular traffic moving from Thirumallai Pilla Road to Dr. Nair Road.