On any given day, around 30 to 40 new vehicles are registered at the Tiruchi RTO West Office. This is apart from the new vehicles that are registered at the Tiruchi RTO East and Srirangam RTO offices every day.
The entry of new vehicles adds up to the already burgeoning vehicle population in the city that is often witness to congestion and traffic hold-ups at busy junctions.
The sharp rise in vehicular traffic has increased the pressure on road space posing huge challenge to traffic management agencies and adding to the city’s traffic woes.
Haphazard parking on the roadsides due to lack of parking lots and encroachments on pavements have shrunk the road space at various places posing difficulty to vehicle-users and pedestrians.
The influx of vehicles from the outskirts to the city has also increased in recent years as new residential localities keep mushrooming on the peripheral areas of the city.
A case in point is the Vayalur road leading to several interior areas on the city’s outskirts from where a large number of vehicles move in and out of the city. The Gandhi Market and its vicinity dotted with commercial establishments and wholesale shops has seen a quantum jump in the movement of goods carriers from various places putting acute pressure on the ever-busy Thanjavur road. Traffic hold-ups have become a regular phenomenon near the Khadi Kraft junction roundabout and Rockins Road leading to the Central Bus Stand which is already bearing the brunt of heavy traffic.
Despite regulation by traffic police personnel, the problem persists due to the rapidly increasing vehicle density. It’s time authorities woke up to the problem and designed a concrete plan to manage the traffic flow better, said M.Sekaran, president, Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations.
The police, civic body, transport department and district administration must design a traffic management plan which could even address the future traffic problems of the city, he said.
Encroachments found on roadsides that had shrunk the road space should be removed to ensure free flow of traffic, Mr. Sekaran said.
Repeated calls have been made for utilisation of the road running parallel to the busy Thillai Nagar main road to ease congestion in the thoroughfare. However, nothing concrete has happened till now, said Mr.Sekaran calling for redrawing the entire traffic system in the city.
Time has come to shift the Gandhi Market and the central bus stand to ease congestion in the city, said Rajappa Rajkumar, past president, BHELSSIA.
A committee should be constituted, including service organisations, to look into various aspects, including vehicle density, to find out ways to address traffic-related problems, he said. Mini flyovers could be also constructed at appropriate spots to reduce congestion, Mr.Rajkumar said.
