Anna Salai - Walajah Road junction where pedestrians and vehicle users violate rules

March 03, 2024 12:04 pm | Updated 12:07 pm IST - CHENNAI

The Anna Salai - Walajah Road junction gets chaotic during peak hours. During non-peak hours two-wheelers and pedestrians and occasionally even four-wheelers violate road rules without compunction.

The junction is the meeting point for vehicles coming from and going into Walajah Road, which leads to the eastern end of Triplicane, the government offices in Ezhilagam and the University of Madras. The location is well-served by Metro train on one side and less than half a km away is the Chintadripet railway station for the mass rapid transport system. As an arterial road, Anna Salai also has buses from all areas in the city and suburbs passing through.

Traffic is heavy as the Ritchie Street bylanes, home to electronic goods, are always busy. During the lockdown, the Corporation and police launched an initiative to keep vehicles out of the narrow bylanes by providing parking slots on Anna Salai.

Despite these provisions, traffic is chaotic. A couple of years ago, in an effort to reduce commute time, traffic police suspended the signal at the junction and pushed the right-turn from Anna Salai towards Pallavan Salai by a few meters.

While most motorists adhere to the rule there are always quite a few who drive through the traffic and turn where there is no U-turn. The barricades make riding on a two-wheeler difficult especially when MTC buses take the unwieldy turn into Anna Salai from Walajah Road. The traffic from Blackers Road join the vehicle stream at Anna Salai to move to Walajah Road or to Anna Salai to reach the southern parts of the city. Pedestrians rarely use the three-way subway at the junction that has been spruced up. They dart across the road edging out vehicles.

A traffic police officer who manned the junction said the realigning of turns had reduced the waiting time at signals. “People wait only for one or two minutes instead of 5 or 6 minutes earlier,” he explained. The installation of traffic regulation observation zones as done in Anna Nagar roundabout would not help as the contactless cameras only capture the vehicle number plates and not the persons riding/driving the vehicle.

“Many times, the vehicle is owned by someone and is used by another person. We challan the owner for violations based on the registration plate. Some vehicles have 30-40 violations filed and the fine is not paid either,” he said.