COIMBATORE: Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC), the police and the National Highways department are holding a feasibility study to widen the bottleneck on Pollachi - Coimbatore road near Kurichi lake, as two separate lanes for free traffic flow and to prevent accidents.
They have suggested converting the existing road into a one-way road and laying another road on the lake bund in a way that the Sri Pongaliyamman temple will stay in the centre.
The road was not widened at a particular place as there is a temple on one side and a tree on the other side, due to which there were frequent accidents in the region. The recent accident took place on August 23, when three college students collided with a tree while riding a bike and two of them died. Following the incident, speed bumps have been installed there as a temporary accident prevention measure.
Despite the speed of vehicles being controlled, the officials had to come up with a permanent solution to fix the issue. Keeping it in mind, the police department, during the meeting held recently, had recommended widening the road in order to find a permanent solution.
“As the place needs to be widened without affecting both the temple and the tree, it has been recommended to use the lake bank. We also suggested converting the existing road into a one-way road and another route can be constructed on the lake bund,” said N Mathivanan, Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) of Police, Coimbatore city.
“After a few meters away from the temple (from Kurichi junction), the road has split into two. The same procedure can be implemented from the accident zone. If the road is divided from the temple, accidents can be avoided and this won’t disturb the temple or the tree,” he added.
Following the suggestions, a feasibility study is being conducted. An officer from the highways department said, “After completing the study, the plan would be submitted before the district road safety committee, headed by the district collector.”