With the overbridge on the Tiruchi-Chennai National Highway near Ponmalai Railway Station under repair, traffic jam was witnessed on the highways on the outskirts of Tiruchi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: M. MOORTHY
With the Chennai Bypass in Tiruchi turning out to be a major traffic bottleneck on the Chennai-Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway section, following the closure of an overbridge on one of the carriageways, the district administration has announced traffic diversions on various highways around Tiruchi in an attempt to reduce the volume of traffic passing through the city.
The overbridge was closed to traffic on Thursday after its approach road was damaged, triggering huge traffic snarls on the highway. The traffic jam turned worse on Saturday with vehicles lining up for a couple of kms on both sides of the Ponmalai overbridge as traffic had to be funnelled into the other two-lane carriageway. Motorists complained that it took about 40-60 minutes to cross the bypass in the city in the bumper-to-bumper crawl.
Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) continued to execute ad hoc measures by demolishing the concrete median near the G. Corner junction to ease the flow of heavy vehicles. However, given the huge volume of traffic, the police and employees of the NHAI struggled to regulate the traffic.
Additional traffic police personnel were deployed on the stretch even as Ministers K.N. Nehru and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi besides Collector M.Pradeep Kumar and City Police Commissioner N. Kamini inspected the spot.
A team of faculty members from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, on Saturday inspected the site to study the problem and suggest appropriate remedial measures. The team, along with the experts of the NIT, Tiruchi, would submit a report on the best option available to repair the structure within a couple of days, NHAI sources told The Hindu. “The rectification work will be executed based on their recommendations,” the sources added.
On Saturday, the officials indicated that the repairs would take a month to complete. “We have to take into consideration various safety aspects. We have to carefully dismantle the damaged portion of the approach and the RE blocks segment-by-segment before rebuilding it,” an official said. He indicated that preliminary steps such as mobilisation of men and machinery were under way to take up the rectification work.
The sources discounted the possibility of repairs dragging on for months as was the case at Sengipatti where some of the facia panels of a vehicular underpass on Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway collapsed last year. “We have the concessionaire ready with men and material to take up the work and the repairs will be carried out round-the-clock and completed quickly,” an official said.
Traffic diversion
Meanwhile, the district administration and police have announced that the following traffic diversions will be in force, until further notice, around the city in view of the closure of the bridge:
All heavy vehicles bound for Chennai from Madurai, Dindigul and other southern districts would have to go via Dindigul, Vaiyampatti, Manapparai, Kulithalai, Musiri, Thuraiyur and Perambalur to join the Tiruchi-Chennai National Highway. In the return direction, heavy vehicles would go in the opposite direction from Perambalur to Dindigul.
Heavy vehicles bound for Pudukottai from Chennai, Perambalur and Ariyalur would be diverted at Palpannai (Ariyamangalam in Tiruchi) to go via Thuvakudi and Asoor-Mathur bypass. Heavy vehicles bound for Pudukottai from Salem and Namakkal would have to go via Musiri, Kulithalai, Manapparai and Viralimalai. Vehicles headed to Salem/Namakkal from Pudukottai would go in the opposite direction on the same route.
Heavy vehicles plying between Pudukottai and Coimbatore/Karur would have to go via Kulithalai, Manapparai and Viralimalai on both directions.
Heavy vehicles bound for Madurai from Ariyalur would go via No. 1 Tollgate near Tiruchi, Musiri, Kulithalai, Manapparai and Dindigul. Vehicles bound for Chennai from Thuvarankurichi and Viralimalai would go via Manikandam, Vanankovil, Manapparai, Kulithalai, Musiri, Thuraiyur and Perambalur
Buses bound for Thanjavur from Central Bus Stand in Tiruchi would be diverted via TVS Tollgate, Airport, Mathur-Asoor Bypass and Thuvakudi. In the return direction, the buses will go via the usual route of Tiruverumbur and Palpannai.
Mr. Pradeep Kumar appealed to motorists to avoid taking the Ponmalai route as far as possible.