Lack of parking space in Smart City parks in Coimbatore takes a toll on traffic flow

The parks, most of them situated along key roads in the city, lack adequate parking space, forcing people to park vehicles on roadside. This causes heavy traffic congestion in the city.

Due to lack of space allocated for vehicle parking facilities, Two wheelers have been parked on the road at Kumaraswamy lake in Coimbatore on Saturday. (Photo | S Senbagapandiyan, EPS)

COIMBATORE: Inadequate parking arrangements in the parks developed under the Smart City project, coupled with illegal parking are causing heavy traffic snarls in major stretches of the city. City Police alleged that the City Municipal Corporation(CCMC) officials are not taking any steps to resolve the issue, despite repeated insistence in the district road safety committee meetings.

Recreational facilities for the public were very less in Coimbatore city. To equate this, city municipal corporation rehabilitated the encroached and unused areas on the lake bunds and set up parks under the Smart City project. Over the months, the number of people visiting these parks has increased significantly.
However, people allege that the interest shown in beautifying the parks has not been shown in arranging basic facilities like vehicle parking in places. The parks, most of them situated along key roads in the city, lack adequate parking space, forcing people to park vehicles on roadside. This causes heavy traffic congestion in the city.

“Hundreds of people visit Kurichi Lake situated near the Athupalam-Kurichi-Pollachi road, especially during morning and evening hours for walking and jogging. But due to lack of parking space, everyone leaves vehicles on the roadsides. Already the stretch is declared as an ‘accident zone’ and the possibility of road accidents is high due to the wind flow and speeding vehicles. Amid this thread, allowing parking on the roadside is causing hindrance to the public,” said N Ramakrishnan, a resident of Sundarapuram.  

Similarly, a park at Muthannan Lake pond on Thadagam Road also does not have space for vehicle parking. The same situation existed at Ukkadam Periyakulam Park and Valankulam Park, where only a small space has been allotted for bikes. So, other vehicles have to park on the roadside.

When asked about this, a senior police officer said, “As large numbers of public visit these smart city parks on weekends, the parking of vehicles on roadsides adds to the traffic congestion. We have conveyed the difficulties due to lack of parking at smart city parks, in the district road safety committee meeting chaired by the district collector many times. However, the corporation officials are refusing to make parking spaces. When asked, they said the smart city plan does not have a design for parking facilities.”  
M Rajarajan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said “The issue has been taken up with the Corporation commissioner and he assured us to take steps to avoid the issue.”

Speaking to TNIE, Corporation Commissioner Sivaguru Prabakaran said that they are planning to create parking spaces at the smart city parks, wherever the traffic is getting affected. “The district collector also insisted the same and we will conduct a study with the traffic police to identify the places and will make necessary arrangements as early as possible,” he said.