Deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, in a meeting yesterday with state officials, has asked them to draw plans to widen roads in the city which can take the heavy traffic.
In the Mylapore zone, he has indicated three stretches – widen Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai from the DGP office end to Citi Centre mall end, widen Dr D G S Dhinakaran Road – Dr Durgabai Deshmukh Road lading to Thiru Vi Ka bridge, and to consider a new bridge from the Srinivasapuram end to Elliots Beach side in Besant Nagar, to take the heavy traffic that now negotiates the road off Pattinapakkam, MGR Janaki College and Adyar.
He told officials that roads could be broadened in small stretches. But it is not clear how widening , say across 200 mts and then forcing the same motorists on to a narrower road will better traffic movement.
Many projects have been drawn up for the Marina seashore side road link, with one that proposed a smart, hanging bridge across the Adyar river’s mouth.
To do this, many hundred houses, many illegal, on both sides of the river will have to be demolished and as seen in the case of issues related to Marina Loop Road, fisherfolk and local residents may oppose these plans.
Also, if traffic is now channeled across the river, Besant Nagar will take the toll of the massive vehicles flow which heads to the ECR colonies.
There was a proposal to lay a road inside the TN Music College campus and lead it alongside the wall of MGR Janaki College, linking this to ThiruVi Ka bridge.
- File photo of Marina Loop Rd shot when fish hawkers existed off the road; they have been cleared now.
