Prakasam Salai: a bumpy journey

Prakasam Salai in chennai - an unpleasant motoring experience

It is a groove in which rivulets of rainwater could glide down smoothly in their quest for a resting place. Unfortunately, this groove does not sit in a green field, but a road. First impressions are forever. And at first glance, Prakasam Salai in Valasravakkam does not make much of an impression, and at subsequent glances too.

At one end (the one where it forms a four-way junction, the other participants being Suresh Nagar Main Road, Chowdhury Nagar Ninth Street and Chowdhury Nagar Fifth Street), Prakasam Salai sports a groove of a kind probably suitable for rainwater, not motorists. The groove is the result of bitumen chipping away continually and not being replaced.

With this first impression, a road would find it hard to redeem itself further up, and Prakasam Salai does not. It puts a lacklustre performance for most part of its course.

To highlight some of its low points, it sports three bumps, neatly spaced apart, around the section where it forms a junction with Saraswathi Ramakrishnan Street. These bumps might make a 110-metre hurdles track proud, not a road. An outcome of a drain work, these bumps signify a danger to motorcyclists. During day, one can see motorcyclists sidestepping these bumps. Can they do the same successfully at night with restricted visibility?