Madhya Kailash turns choke point

Time of India

24-04-2025

Chennai: The twin traffic junctions — Madhya Kailash and Adyar Cancer Institute — which serve as critical links to Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Adyar, Guindy and Saidapet, have emerged as the city's newest chicken necks, leading to vehicular pile-ups stretching upto Indira Nagar MRTS station on OMR and Anna University and beyond on Sardar Patel Road.
To make matters worse, the artificial logjam caused by inadequate police presence, ineffective traffic regulation and potholed roads has become a cause for heartache not just during peak hours, but throughout the day.
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"Forget new roads, even rudimentary maintenance is unheard of on this stretch. The neverending potholes and uneven gravel patches are a hazard for commuters. The condition is aggravated in the aftermath of even a short spell of rain," said Pooja R, who travels from Velachery to Taramani daily.
The Cancer Institute signal gives just two minutes for vehicles coming from Guindy and Kotturpuram, while vehicles turning right from Madhya Kailash towards Kotturpuram block the entire strech of the road. "Even when the signal turns green, we are unable to move because of vehicles waiting to turn. We lose 15–20 minutes just between Madhya Kailash and the Cancer Institute almost every day," said Rajesh Kumar, a delivery agent working with an aggregator.
Adding to the frustration of commuters is the traffic police's inaction. "They are often seen passively observing the commotion instead of taking the initiative to clear the bottlenecks and to manage the flow," said Muthuvel, an auto driver.
Motorists complain that the situation has worsened ever since the TIDEL Park U-turn flyover opened. "Earlier, at least vehicles from Thiruvanmiyur and Thoraipakkam stopped at the signal. Now, with the flyover, they just pour into Sardar Patel Road without any check," said K Saravanan, a commuter from Thoraipakkam.
Vehicles from Adyar heading towards Guindy are compelled to turn left at Madhya Kailash, travel 800 metres along OMR, and take a U-turn to rejoin Sardar Patel Road. Simultaneously, vehicles from OMR heading towards Adyar use the underpass at the Cancer Institute flyover to make another U-turn. These loops not only increase travel time but also funnel multiple U-turning streams into already saturated junctions, creating several conflict points.
Traffic police say that once the L-shaped flyover construction at Madhya Kailash is completed, a better-regulated U-turn system will be introduced.
They have also proposed diverting Guindy-bound traffic from Kotturpuram via the Cancer Institute signal to take a left and then a U-turn, after the pillars are completed for the L-shaped flyover, which could help ease congestion.
In the long term, officials have floated the idea of demolishing the compound walls of institutions such as Anna University, IIT-Madras, the Cancer Institute, and Gandhi Mandapam to widen the road. Until then, they admit, the congestion is likely to persist.