CHENNAI: Nobody likes a change in habit. Most people wouldn’t even realise it, but navigating a route from destination A to destination B in Singaara Chennai isn’t just an arduous task, it’s a well-charted out habit. So when the traffic police announces that a particular road that you’ve used to travel to work for the last 18 years will henceforth host only one-way traffic, it can jar the most resilient motorist. No wonder, motorists cursed when the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) made Mount Road and Poonamallee High Road unrecognisable with traffic diversions.“It’s very confusing because they keep making changes to the diversion every month,” complains Dayalan, a resident of T Nagar, who commutes to Parrys everyday. For someone who’s had the luxury of travelling by one road (Mount Road) for the past 22 years, having to battle through South and North Boag roads to get to Anna Flyover is “extremely strenuous”, he admits. The list of complaints grow larger - more time taken, more traffic, more petrol wasted at a time when prices have gone through the roof and above all more confusion. But there are positives as well. Krishnan Seshadri, who lives opposite KMC recalls how his entire apartment complex wrote to the Commissioner of Police when the diversions on Poonamallee High Road were suggested last year. “Though we detested having to go through Spur Tank Road and come down Chetpet bridge just to come back home from Sangam theatre, after just a week, the whole road was less congested,” he concedes. And now, even at peak hours, there are rarely traffic jams on the entire stretch from Anna Arch all the way to Central Station.Point this out to Rajan N, a pensioner living off Venkatnarayana Road in T Nagar who has been upset by the increased traffic flow and noise, and he agrees that it would be a godsend if T Nagar actually cleared up. “It hasn’t happened in 43 years, so let’s see,” he adds with scepticism.Even as people are happier that Mount Road itself is a lot easier to use (especially if you’re headed from Anna Flyover towards Nandanam), residents of smaller streets on either side are sore. “Ever since they made it one-way, all the fast traffic entered our smaller lanes as there are no restrictions here,” complains Visalatchi, a mother of three living behind SIET college. “I am afraid to let my children play and my husband’s bike has been knocked down twice already this year,” she rants. This is echoed by people living on the lanes off Harrington Road, Dr Nair Road, CIT Colony, South Boag Road and the perennially clogged North Boag Road, to name a few. Perhaps some policing here might help.Kunal Vohra, an architect who lives in Vadapalani, offers an interesting point of view. “People may not realise it, but motorists just choose to go on a different route instead of using new shortcuts. I would just reach Adyar by going through Guindy instead of battling through Mount Road,” he claims. This makes a lot of sense as there have been reports of a marginal spike in road usage near Ekkaduthangal, Guindy, Villivakkam and a few other peripheral routes. As far as the Chennai City Traffic Police are concerned, here’s a bittersweet experience. After plenty of motorists kept asking them for directions, they have erected large direction boards at every diversion to help people along. As these diversions (and a few more) are set to remain till at least 2014, they’re just happy that they have a few extra hands to help - the CMRL staff have been asked to pitch in and help manage traffic at new junctions created by the diversions, like in Anna Nagar and Nandanam.
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