A busy stretch of Avanashi Road near the flyover. Coimbatore City Police have started implementation of low cost but result-oriented effective micro-level traffic management measures on arterial roads in the first phase. City Police Commissioner K.C. Mahali told reporters that police were planning to have a two-pronged strategy for controlling the problem of chaotic traffic – micro-level plan that would not be derailed by financial considerations and macro-level planning for long-term measures such as flyovers, bridges that required financial allocation and execution time.
In addition, taking into account of the growth rate of the city, the traffic managers would keep a blue print ready. As part of the micro-level planning, the Police Commissioner along with the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Intelligence, A.S. Nandakumar visited congested and accident-prone pockets on arterial roads for an on-the-field study, Mr. Mahali said. The objective of the micro-level planning would be to reduce accidents and to facilitate smooth flow of traffic.
The micro-level plan implementation was expected to be smooth as it would not involve any major financial burden and these small measures could be carried out with the resources on hand and in co-ordination with the agencies concerned at the local level. The City Police were already in touch with the local body and the highways department, Mr. Mahali said.
For the pilot project, a 15-km stretch of National Highway had been taken up. The authorities would first ensure visibility for the motorists by removing bushes and other obstructions. The other plan would be to have a line up of three smaller rumble strips on the by lanes in a bid to slow down the traffic before they joined the main road. The centre median line would be provided with reflectors.
Extreme boundaries of the roads within the city limits would be painted with a white line so that parking of vehicles could clearly steer away from the carriage way. Motorist-friendly reflective barricades with high density reflection would be designed and put up on accident prone stretches to slow down the vehicles and ensure ‘snake movement’ i.e., by negotiating zig-zag barricades. After successful implementation of these measures on Sathyamangalam Road, the authorities plan to have the same done on Mettuppalayam Road, Thadagam Road, Siruvani Road, Marudhamalai Road, Pollachi Road, Palakkad Road, Tiruchi Road and Avanashi Road.
