Protest over poor condition of Mettupalayam Road
NH 67 is the crucial road linking Coimbatore City with Mettupalayam, the gateway for the tourist hill station Udhagamandalam. The road that accounted for educational institutions and industrial units on either side witnesses a heavy flow of traffic. The vehicular traffic includes office goers , students besides tourists. In the absence of adequate train service between Coimbatore and Mettupalayam, road transport density had increased manifold.
The stretch had become a nightmare for the motorists because of the narrow roads, bridges and pot holes. Strengthening and relaying of the road had not been done for many years and the growing traffic has made widening of the road into a four lane an essential need of the hour, the association contended.
The heavy volume of traffic on the road has increased the travel time between Coimbatore – Mettupalayam and vice-versa. In addition, the entire stretch has become highly accident prone. The recent campaign by the protection association was to draw the attention of the Government towards this neglected stretch. The posters accused the rulers and the VIPs of having forgotten this road. The association made it clear that more than the bypass road projected from Neelambur to Mettupalayam, there is a pertinent, imperative and urgent need for strengthening, relaying and widening the existing Mettupalayam Road into a four lane road, since the distance in the proposed bypass road would be much more than the existing road.
The association made it clear that even after the laying of bypass road, the present Coimbatore – Mettupalayam Road would continue to have the same amount of traffic.National Highways Authority of India sources when contacted made it clear that along with the bypass road proposal an estimate for Rs. 15 crore was in final stages of tender process for improvements to the existing Coimbatore – Mettupalayam road. However, the association people pointed out that Rs. 15 crore would be insufficient and it would only serve the purpose of patchwork.
