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-   -   Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/68789-traffic-life-roads-chennai-97.html)

Diwali season has made Shanti colony a mess. You can go through K4 police station and reach sboa school junction. From there it is pretty easy to reach any place in mogappair.

Yes I'm aware of that route.I went into Shantin Colony not expecting that much traffic!!

But the K4 route is too long isn't it??

How about weekend shopping at T Nagar. I am planning to do a photoshoot rather than shop. Will be quite interesting to see the nasty(not the crowd) but the volume of crowd

Folks, be prepared for a mad weekend rush today in the city. It was not much different last year, I expect it to be only worse this year.

The city was already blocked yesterday, I had to longest route home from Taramani to Perambur via Tambaram Bye Pass road. But I reached home in 1 hour and 15 mins stupid:

That's a good idea to do photoshoot rather than shopping in T.Nagar at this times. If going by Car, I think its better to park the car in some free lanes of CIT Nagar and walk a bit. In my case, I always avoid taking my car to T.Nagar on all seasons. But, if the situation demands a drive, I use to park my car before entering T.Nagar and Walk. I find the left turn near Saidai Duraisamy's (Chennai Mayor) house leads to some free lanes of CIT Nagar.

True, it is always like this during the Diwali weekend. Don't remember if it was in 2009 or 2010 Diwali, the road from MadhyaKailash till TIDEL and maybe even upto SRP tools was at a standstill for hours in the evening. Reasons being rain driving traffic crazy and as if that was not enough, some fringe group decided that it was the day to hold a human-chain protest in the city.

Anticipating traffic issues, I had left from work early (around 4:30PM) to be able to get home (45-55mins drive), drop the car, get my bags and then reach Central to catch the 7:45 train. But there I was sitting in the car till 7PM on IT corridor. Finally when traffic cleared after 7PM, there was no way I was going to make it. Some quick thinking made me park the car at Kasturba Nagar MRTS' underground parking and catch the MRTS to Central, just in time for the train to leave. Trains which were fully booked months earlier ran empty because many missed the train due to the traffic. That was crazy !!!

Wow!


@SB All,
How is the traffic on Velachari main roads. I may drive down to Medavakkam.
Any time limits to be adhered during holidays?

How are you sure about that? Traffic has always been similar and Trains always had their peak traffic seasons

Usually depends on the time of the day (peak vs non-peak) and the day of the week (weekdays vs Sundays/holidays). On Sundays, most city roads are free till early evenings. Weekdays, peak hours would be busy on most roads, but still flowing traffic and not that bad. After the peak-hours, traffic gets smoother.

Because that Diwali the compartments were empty as most could not catch the train. BTW, traffic in Chennai is very different on a rainy day vs a dry day. One reason is the water-accumulation at the edges of the roads and thus everyone trying to drive in the lane close to the median. Other reason is that there is a section of the populace who own cars, but normally commute by bikes. They take out their cars only on a rainy day and the traffic density becomes more during monsoons.

I have faced a similar issue in 2010 Diwali too and yet again it was the Electric train / MRTS network that saved the day. When stuck in trafffic with limited time, there is nothing to beat the electric train. Takes just 11minutes from Nungambakkam to Park Station - quicker than any other mode of transport.

BTW, last Friday, the Choolaimedu High Road (Nelson Manickam Rd end) was clogged like crazy at 6:30PM. Reason being that bikers/cars going towards the Loyola subway had taken over both lanes and the motorists from opposite side were blocked. So end-result was no one was going anywhere. :Frustrati
I was walking to Nungambakkam station and there was no space even to walk through the traffic jam.

Well put. I managed to connect to 2 trains in the last 8 months for having chosen to utilize the electric train from airport to Central. There is no way I would have made it had I chosen any means on the road. Once the metro opens up, I am quiet confident it would ease a bit of congestion on the roads.

The Trisulam station bang opposite the airport is a blessing for folks commuting to/from the airport. When flying out for short trips (light luggage) I always prefer the train to auto/cab.
It is not only quick with no traffic jams, but also runs round the clock and don't charge extra for the late hours like the autos/cabs. Well almost except for 12midnight to 4AM IIRC.

Now, a metro station will also come up there, which is great. I just hope they link the 2 stations and also provide a walkway to the airport. There currently exists one under the GST road from Trisulam station to airport, but when I used it last November, it was flooded with water.

And finally for a city that supposedly has only 3 seasons (hot, hotter & hottest), winter is slowly setting in. You can feel the cold in the mornings and evenings. The next few months (till Feb/March) is the best time for visitors to drop in to Chennai.

Anyone knows Bank of Baroda ATMs in and around Velachery? Don't mind a bit of travel too.

I have seen one branch opposite the upcoming phoenix market city, but don't think they have ATM facility.

And, out of nowhere, came the rain again...

Just at the wrong time for both those going out and those driving home from work. There must be some adventure stories from the roads tonight?

I couldn't be more pleased that my wife said, "if you wanted me to come to a concert, you should have told me a couple of hours ago." We stayed at home, watching the garden fill up.

Here is my, rather my wife's story. She started from her office near Sholinganallur @ 8:20p.m. and reached my office @ Tidel @ 10p.m. Worst is that, expecting that she would reach my office at the usual time (around 8:45p.m.) I came out of my office and was on road till 10. :Frustrati

Terrible traffic on OMR today, water logged everywhere. One lady bumped my car from behind while taking a U turn. There was so much water, it was raining and the traffic was crazy. I couldn't even say anything to her at all. Madness!