CHENNAI: The usually bad weekend traffic turned worse on Friday as people leaving the city for their home towns brought vehicular movement almost to a standstill.
The stretch between Mogappair and Ambattur was heavily congested after schools and offices wound up for the day. Commuters said a 5km stretch between Mogappair West and Ambattur Industrial Estate that normally takes an hour to cover took three hours on Friday, as they had to wait for about 45 minutes at every traffic signal.
A resident of Ayanambakkam said vehicles kept squeezing into already crowded roads, and there were no policemen in sight.
Speaking to TNIE, a traffic police officer from Avadi City Police said, “We have deployed enough personnel to manage these kinds of issues but a sudden increase in traffic volume at certain stretches can cause severe congestion.”
Similar conditions were reported in Saidapet, Nandanam, T Nagar and Mount Road.
K Johnson, a private company employee, said, “It does not take me over 50 minutes to reach my office on Mount Road from my house in Ramapuram. On Friday morning, it took me two hours. Around 5 pm, it was pretty much the same but to avoid getting caught again, I took a break at my friend’s house. But I still had to travel for nearly one-and-a-half hours.”
A police officer from Greater Chennai Traffic Police said, “The holiday traffic added to the usual weekend congestion. Moreover, due to the rains in the morning, a portion of the road near YMCA in Nandaman got damaged and vehicles were diverted. This added to the snarls.”
At Tambaram, slow vehicular movement was reported at Perungalathur and Kilambakkam but was managed with nearly 600 personnel. Heavy vehicle restrictions on GST Road helped keep congestion under control.