If every intersection and road were to have a fitting analogy, the one about “threading a needle” should fit the intersection of Gowdiamutt Road and Royapettah High Road. Naturally narrow and made narrower by parked vehicles taking up unauthorised space, the intersection poses a challenge to motorists, especially drivers of MTC buses, during rush hour. It is indeed like passing through the eye of a needle. As it connects Royapettah High Road in Mylapore with Peter’s Road in Royapettah, the intersection bustles with traffic through most hours of the day. Key public facilities, including Royapettah General Hospital, police station and a government school, are located near the intersection, leading to considerable movement of pedestrians. “The old and narrow concrete footpaths are yet to be replaced with broad footpaths. Parking of vehicles near the intersection hinders the free movement of vehicles and pedestrians,” says V. Ashwin, a motorist from Mylapore. The British-era Royapettah police station, built in 1901, along with the new three-storey building, is located at the intersection. Despite the presence of a police station with all the departments of the police, including the traffic wing, traffic management at the intersection remains a sore point. Around 100 metres from the police station,the Royapettah General Hospital junction is located, and here, motorists have to somtimes wait for what seems an eon before crossing Peter's Road. During rush hour, police personnel regulate traffic at this junction. Interestingly, the flyover over the hospital junction is largely underutilised with many motorists choosing to drive through the hospital junction and the narrow intersection to localities like Mylapore, Thousands Lights, Triplicane and Royapettah. At present, small concrete slabs and a few steel barricades serve as median on the two-way Royapettah High Road close to the intersection. The section of Gowdiamutt Road close to the intersection lacks a median. Motorists coming from these roads pile up at the intersection with traffic police personnel at the hospital junction regulating the traffic manually as the digital traffic signal there has not been functioning for many months now. The majority of pedestrians using the intersection and the hospital junction are patients of the government general hospital and their relatives there and traders in the locality. In addition, the intersection also provides access to Zam Bazaar old market on Pycrots Road in Royapettah near the famous Amir Mahal. “Widening the intersection will ease traffic flow and prevent accidents especially at night as the intersection is located on a narrow curve on the side where vehicular traffic moves twoards Mylapore,” says a Corporation official.

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