Citizen connect: Fewer traffic officers, dysfunctional signals around Porur flyover add to motorists’ woes

The Poonamallee traffic enforcement police stopped using the signal posts near Porur junction after the construction of the flyover began in 2010 and started regulating traffic manually. But, despite the completion of the flyover work, the traffic signals have been dysfunctional for the last two years, complain motorists and residents of the area.

“Porur is one of the important junctions and an entry point to the city. But the traffic enforcement here is poor. While traffic on the Trunk Road is streamlined after the construction of the flyover, motorists who use Arcot Salai to go from Valasaravakkam to Kundrathur and vice versa are the ones most affected,” said V Swetha, a residentof Manapakkam.

“The government promptly named the flyover after former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran before it was opened to public, but it did not complete the necessary work to ensure the smooth flow of the traffic,” she added.

Hawkers occupy both the sides of Arcot road making the already-narrow road a bottleneck for motorists while crossing the flyover underneath, says Moorthy from Kundrathur, who goes to Vadapalani for work on his bike every day.

Traffic police officers said that while the flyover was being constructed, at least eight personnel were deployed to regulate the movement of the vehicles, but now only four personnel are deployed on shifts, which leaves only two traffic police personnel on permanent duty at the spot.

When contacted, senior officials said that request has been to allocate Rs 4.5 lakh to erect new traffic signal posts and the work will begin soon after the funds are sanctioned.

The work for 475-metre-long and 17.2-metre-wide flyover started during the DMK government rule in 2010, but was put on hold when just 10 per cent of the construction was completed. After Jayalalithaa took over as Chief Minister, she directed the officials to complete the flyover.