Mukkombu Regulatory Road: Safety concerns on the Mukkombu Regulatory Road |

Trichy: recurrent traffic jams On the narrow road to the Mukkombu Dam, a regulator Situated on the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers, near Trichy The city has raised concerns about road safety. Guided by online mobile mapping apps, visitors have been extensively using the road on the regulator to travel faster. Road safety Activists have demanded that the Public Works Department (PWD) and Trichy rural police restrict the movement of vehicles on the regulator.
The Mukkombu Dam, which diverts incoming water from the Mettur Dam, has two regulating structures, one on either side of the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers. It diverts excess water to the two rivers based on the inflow and irrigation requirements. A narrow three-metre wide road is located on top of the regulator and connects the Cauvery river bank to the Kollidam river bank via Srirangam Island. The regulator helps local people to commute between the Trichy-Karur national highway and the Trichy-Namakkal state highway. Only labourers and students used the road.

Recently, cars from other districts approaching Trichy city are using the road to shorten their journey. Instead of taking a 30-km detour to go back and forth between NH and the state highway, visitors guided by mobile apps are using the narrow road. Mukkombu Regulatory Highway as a link road. “One vehicle can approach the road at a time. For the past few months, several vehicles from both directions have been taking the road without knowing its narrow width. Most of these vehicles are from other districts and they often get stuck,” said P Aiyarappan, member of the district road safety council.
Apart from traffic congestion, activists have called for movement to be restricted on the old regulator to protect it from vibrations and excess load. Locals said the police and PWD should classify the regulator road as a restricted road so that online maps do not encourage visitors to use the stretch to save travel time. “We will have to talk to PWD officials to restrict movement,” said KK Balachandar, DSP, Jeeyapuram. The overcrowding of the Mukkombu Regulatory Road also means the need for new bridges over the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers near Jeeyapuram and Vathalai to prevent visitors from taking a much longer route through Trichy city. PWD officials said the department would discuss the need to regulate vehicles on the Mukkombu road.

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