The roughly one-kilometre-long Eldams Road, connecting Anna Salai and Mowbray’s Road, is one of the oldest roads in Chennai. According to the Vestiges of Old Madras, written by Henry Davison Love, the road was laid 207 years ago in 1816 and named after Richard Yeldham, who served as the Mayor of Madras in 1801.
Along with the change in its name from Yeldham’s to Eldams, the road has transformed in the past several decades from one with many bungalows into a mix of commercial and residential area. Among the few buildings that stand testimony to its past is the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation at one end, with the address of No. 1, Eldams Road.
This side of the road is wide with old trees lining up both sides and relatively upmarket residential and commercial complexes. But the road gradually narrows towards Anna Salai. This end of the road is predominantly a lower and middle-income neighbourhood, which is congested.
This stretch witnesses heavy traffic as it connects to Anna Salai. To avoid the congestion, the section of Eldams Road, from the intersection at Tiruvalluvar Salai to Anna Salai, has been kept a one-way for long. However, this has not helped much, especially at peak hours.
Non-adherence to the one-way restriction by a few motorists and temporary parking of vehicles in front of commercial enterprises mainly contribute to the congestion. Closer to Anna Salai is the old Balasubramanya Swamy Temple. Adjacent to the temple is a vegetables and fruits market, interspersed with grocery stores. The people visiting the market also contribute to the congestion as there is no space to park the vehicles.
N. Menaka, one of the vegetable vendors, says the market has existed for decades. “We are often blamed for the congestion. However, most customers walk in from nearby areas or they are devotees who visit the temple and buy vegetables on their way back,” she says, adding that two garbage bins kept on the road also take up space from the carriageway. “But there are no other proper spots to keep them either,” she points out.
Ramanathan, another vendor, says the congestion has increased in recent months owing to the re-routing of a lot of traffic, including buses through Tiruvalluvar Salai, another narrow road that connects to Eldams Road, because of the Metro Rail work under way on T.T.K. Road.
He says the intersections at Tiruvalluvar Salai and Raja Krishnan Street are often deadlocked in the evenings. “Sometimes, there are policemen to regulate the traffic. However, there is a need for regular traffic regulation on the road to keep it relatively free of congestion,” he says.
