An opening in the median on Gandhi Mandapam Road that has been barricaded.
The traffic situation has taken a turn for the worse for residents of streets off Gandhi Mandapam Road in Kotturpuram ever since Greater Chennai Traffic Police reengineered the traffic flow on that busy road.The issue pertains to “turns” from one side of Gandhi Mandapam Road to the other, some median openings having been disabled at some points for motorists, and some others reduced to something of a peephole.That is the dominant sentiment in those parts and it has spilled over into residents associations’ WhatsApp chats in Kotturpuram, a fresh rant landing in a WhatsApp group every time a resident walks in home exhausted from a double-eternity spent at the wheel on the home run.Chandra Prabhakar, a committee member of Nawab Gardens Residents Welfare Association describes a typical facet of what these residents define as ordeal. She notes that the problem in the Kotturpuram area, on Gandhi Mandapam Main Road, is that most of the openings in the median have been closed and many of the traffic signals have effectively been switched off. As a result, one cannot simply take a right turn or a U-turn where they need to.She illustrates the issue: “if you are coming from the Nandanam side over the bridge, you have to go all the way beyond Anna University before you are able to take a U-turn.:What is worse than a closed opening in the median is one that is half-closed.“Temporary metal barricades have been placed, partially blocking the openings. They leave only a small gap, and it is difficult to understand the purpose of leaving such a narrow space because even large cars struggle to take a U-turn there,” she continues. “One such opening is opposite Vellayan Street.”Chandra understands that this situation is not unique to Gandhi Mandapam Road, not even to Chennai, and is noticeable across Tamil Nadu, and she is particularly articulating this idea based on a similar traffic experience she had at Avinashi Road in Coimbatore.“The philosophy behind this may be that if relatively few vehicles need to turn right or make a U-turn, removing those signal-phases allows traffic to flow more smoothly. This system is followed in many foreign countries. However, the problem is that in our cities, the number of cars, two-wheelers, autos and buses wanting to make right turns and U-turns is extremely high. Instead of distributing these turning movements across multiple junctions, they are concentrated at a few U-turn locations, where vehicles have to compete with fast-moving traffic coming from the opposite direction. Traffic therefore gets bunched up at these locations,” she observes.Zooming in on Gandhi Mandapam Road, this is what Chandra and most other residents of Kotturpuram want: more openings in the median to be left open, not partially but fully. Published - July 04, 2026 05:36 pm IST
