U-turn system to decongest traffic in GH Junction on Trichy road

COIMBATORE: The traffic congestion on the Government Hospital (GH) Junction on Trichy road is set to be a thing of the past soon as a U-turn system will replace the traffic signal.

The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) management, the highways department, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and the Coimbatore City traffic police personnel are coordinating to implement the new traffic system.

A lack of cooperation between different departments so far delayed the implementation of the U-turn despite a series of complaints from the public regarding the gridlock.

Due to the presence of the CMCH and a couple of private schools, the GH-Valankulam Road junction on Trichy Road remains busy throughout the day. Vehicles including the ambulance have to wait for a long time at the signals, resulting in heavy traffic congestion.

Vehicles line up all the way to the CMCH bus stop from the junction, blocking the main entrance of the hospital. Even ambulances carrying emergency cases and other patients are unable to enter the hospital during a jam. After the hospital management banned private vehicles, including those of the patients, from entering or parking inside the hospital premises a few weeks ago, people started parking their two-wheelers outside the hospital on Trichy Road, thus worsening the problem.

With traffic congestion on the rise, demands to decongest the road in front of the CMCH grew louder. Even the CMCH management had requested the officials to take necessary steps to clear the traffic congestion in front of the hospital as the entrance was blocked by vehicles waiting for the traffic signal.