This U-turn bridge makes for free-flowing traffic movement and has come as a remedy for the traffic gridlock at the Tidel Park junction. The image was taken on February 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK

‘I find the carriageway narrow’

I travel from Madhya Kailash to Taramani on work, and the first few days since the U-turn flyover at Tidel Park junction opened have been a disappointment for me. I find the width of the flyover to be narrow leading to congestion on the bridge. Previously buses from Thiruvanmiyur would take a right turn at the signal to head towards Madhya Kailash; now they take the flyover to take a U-turn to move towards Madhhya Kailash. Vehicles coming from Madhya Kailash to take a right turn at Taramani do not get enough space.

I need to take the right turn to head to Taramani, but because of the congestion on the bridge, I go straight towards SRP Tools and take the U-turn near NIFT. As of now the new flyover has not benefited me personally.

Lakshman Muthiah

Adyar

‘More signboards are on the way’

Our experience says that any new U-turn takes 10-15 days for people to get accustomed to. Some are not aware there is a U-turn so creating awareness might be part of the package.

It is too early to give pat solutions. The section certainly looks better and navigating it is a lot easier. The average time spent at the junction has reduced drastically.

More signboards are definitely required to guide motorists better; and these signboards are on the way.

The Tidal park U-turn will facilitate greater movement of vehicles towards Ascendas IT Park, which has close to 20,000 employees working in the offices lodged there.

At Madhya Kailash junction, we had earlier implemented some changes which have motorists taking a compulsory left and then a U-turn. This has eased traffic movement at the Madhya Kailash junction.

Bandi Gangadhar

Joint Commissioner (Traffic), South, Greater Chennai Police

‘U-turns have increased on OMR’

It is too early to say if the new U-turn flyover on Rajiv Gandhi Salai has helped ease traffic. On February 26, during peak hours, the junction seemed to be witnessing easy-moving traffic. But that was a holiday due to Mahashivaratri so we have to wait and watch.

I go to IIT -Madras and my office and home are both in Karapakkam, so I cannot avoid this stretch. Before the metro work started, I could reach Karapakkam in 30 minutes at most hours of the day. Now, it takes me 45-50 minutes. Ideally, I would like to leave home at 9 a.m. but then that would keep me longer on the road, so I leave after 10.30 a.m. These are some adjustments I have made to avoid getting caught in the traffic amidst Metro work. I find U-turns have increased on OMR and we need to see how they work.

Varsha Misra

Architect and Research Scholar