Easing out the strain

A traffic restriction, which came into force from the first week of this month on the movement of heavy vehicles on the National Highway-4, has (relatively) eased congestion on several roads including the busiest stretch in the locality, Koyambedu Roundtana to Padi junction.
After the introduction of the restriction, motorists are a lot happy. As
movement of heavy goods vehicles and container-laden trailers are prohibited both ways on National Highway 4 (Chennai to Bangalore) from the junction of Chennai Bypass (Maduravoyal junction) to the Madhavaram flyover junction (on NH 5) between 8 am and 9 pm.
Narendran, a resident of Korattur, said, 'After the introduction of this restriction, traffic on this stretch has become smooth. Earlier, it was so terrible that many motorists bound for Korattur and Ambattur areas started using the 'not-so good' Park Road, Anna Nagar West Extension, to reach TVS Lucas junction to avoid getting stuck at Padi Junction.'
'Now that (Park) Road is also relaid, and we have two good options to reach our homes without any hassle, he added.
Deepak, a student with Kandasamy Naidu College and a resident of Retteri, said, 'Earlier, to reach college on time, I used to start before an hour. But it has been reduced to just 20 minutes'. 'See, how a small restriction has made our lives easy,' he added.
But the same restriction, which was well received by the motorists, has turned out to be a big problem for heavy vehicle drivers. Mithu Singh, a resident of Kambar Colony and driver of a container lorry service, said, 'The new restriction has added pressure on our travelling schedule. If some delivery has to be made from Andhra Pradesh to Anna Nagar, and if the vehicle reaches Madavaram by 9 am, I've to wait till night time to get into the city. By wasting so much time, we tend to incur losses on our companies.'
Like every action has both positive and negative impact, the new rule too has both. What is good for motorists are bad for the container lorry drivers.
By and large, the traffic snarl, which has become a regular occurrence near Padi Junction, has now become a thing of past.
-G Saravanan