Heavy vehicles barred from entering Tiruchi city via Palpannai junction from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

In an attempt to ease the severe congestion being witnessed at Palpannai intersection on Chennai-Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway, the district administration has barred entry of heavy vehicles into the city via the junction during the day.

No heavy vehicle would now be allowed to enter the city via the Palpannai junction between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. All these vehicles would have to take the Thuvakudi-Panjapur Bypass Road to enter the city from January 1, Collector V.Saravanan announced on Wednesday.

Motorists have been facing a harrowing time during their daily commute due to the worsening traffic congestion at Palpannai Junction in the city. The intersection has been literally bursting at its seams as traffic pile ups were becoming lengthier, on either sides of the Tiruchi- Thanjavur NH and the service lane leading to the junction from Apollo Hospital.

Recently, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, along with senior police and transport officials, had inspected the junction to discuss possible solutions to ease the situation. Diverting heavy vehicles traffic via Thuvakudi bypass was one of the suggestions discussed during the inspection.

Mr.Saravanan announced that all Point-to-Point buses headed towards Thanjavur from Panjapur Integrated Bus Stand would also have to go via the bypass road to join the Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway at Thuvakudi.

Indicating that the decisions are being implemented on a trial basis, Mr.Saravanan announced that a committee headed by the Revenue Divisional Officer has been constituted to submit study the effectiveness of the new traffic arrangements and submit a report.

Welcoming the move, P.Ayyarappan, president, Road Users Welfare Association, observed that the long-awaited decisions were timely now as the Pongal festival season would attract more vehicular traffic at the junction. He also emphasised the need for streamlining traffic at the Mannarpuram and TVS Tollgate junctions.

K.Rajendran, general secretary, Tiruchi-Palpannai-Thuvakudi Service Road Meetpu Kootamaippu, however, felt that only the construction of service lanes from Palpannai to Thuvakudi can bring about a permanent solution to the problem. Once the service lanes are laid, the roads leading to the Palpannai junction would have to be widened to allow free flow of traffic.

He also suggested the relocation of the Palpannai bus halts for town buses, especially for those heading towards Gandhi Market. “After dropping/picking up passengers at the halt, the buses have to merge again with the traffic on the highway, very close to the Palpannai junction causing hardship to other motorists. The buses should halt only after crossing the junction. Town buses headed towards Golden Rock can halt on the service road after turning left,” he suggested.