COIMBATORE: Despite growing traffic snarls at the Sitra-Kalapatti-Airport junction on Avinashi Road in the city, the Highways Department is yet to build a load-bearing stormwater drain and widen the junction to ease traffic flow.
The special projects wing of the State Highways department has been constructing an elevated 10.1 km flyover on Avinashi Road to bypass several important junctions on the stretch, including the Sitra-Kalapatti-Airport junction. The junction is a major intersection on the stretch connecting Coimbatore International Airport, educational institutions, industries, hospitals and numerous commercial establishments.
Owing to heavy traffic at the junction, officials removed traffic signals in favour of a U-turn system to ease vehicle movement. However, due to the presence of an open sewage channel on the left side of the road, vehicles lining up at the U-turn, a lack of traffic police personnel and the narrowness of the junction, the place gets choked with vehicles. Motorists are unable to turn left from the junction to proceed towards Kalapatti, owing to traffic snarls.
Despite several motorists raising concerns, no action has been taken so far by officials to sort out the problem. After numerous complaints, the district road safety committee and the road safety wing of the State Highways department had proposed the construction of load-bearing concrete slabs above sewage channels and widening the stretch by 5 metres, to reduce traffic congestion.
Speaking to TNIE, G Manuneethi, Divisional Engineer of the State Highways Department (Road Safety Wing), Coimbatore, said, "We had submitted a proposal for constructing a 5-metre wide load-bearing concrete cover on top of channels for a length of about 50 metres, from the U-turn provision to Kalapatti Junction over a year ago. However, the special projects wing hasn't taken any action yet."
He also revealed that during last month's road safety committee meeting, the matter was discussed, in which the collector had orally instructed officials to immediately construct load-bearing drains to ease vehicle movement. Despite the collector's instructions, the drain was not constructed, making motorists' lives miserable.
When enquired, an official from the special projects wing told TNIE that the Chennai Metro Rail Limited had instructed them not to take up any new works on the left side of Avinashi Road (towards Neelambur), owing to the upcoming metro rail project.