The Nano, positioned as the people’s car, is here. And soon it will make its appearance in Chennai. The question is, with our roads being what they are and the traffic being what it is, can Chennai meet the challenge of a much larger number of cars?

The Nano in ideal conditions will not be a problem, but in urban areas like Chennai today and in the future it could well be a headache for road-users.

Yes, say the authorities. The construction of eleven flyovers in various spots in the city and two multi-level parking lots on Broadway and Graeme’s Road will solve most problems, according to them. There are also proposals for grade separators in at least three places on Mount Road – Nandanam, Spencer’s and Eldam’s Road junctions. The authorities are also banking on the reduction in the number of two-wheelers on the roads, once more people switch to using the Nano. Besides these, the Metro Rail is also expected to reduce the dependence that people have on private transport.

No, say the road users. They are of the view that the authorities have not studied the problem in depth. Cars in the city have increased in number by around three lakh in the past ten years. On an average, around 3000 to 4000 new cars go on the roads every month in Chennai. With the Nano car promised at a price of around Rs. 1.50 lakh, the number of people who can afford cars increases dramatically. The only limitation perhaps is the manufacturing capacity of the company producing the Nano.

Will the construction of two parking lots solve the problem? What about other areas which are parking nightmares, such as Luz, T’Nagar, Perambur junction, the Central and Egmore stations, and Flower Bazaar? Can they handle the increased number of cars that will need to be parked?

And what about the streets of the city which have already been widened to full capacity, often at the expense of sidewalks? With land-acquisition in the heart of the city in the name of road-widening having already become a reality in the past one year, land-owners are bracing themselves for a further bout of acquisition when the Nano hits the roads. Even this may not be endlessly possible.

The Metro Rail of Chennai when planned was expected to be completed in 2014. But given our record of tardy and delayed implementation of most pro­jects, this too may go on for much longer. The case of the MRTS, which went on for ever is fresh in most minds. When completed, the traffic load of the city had gone far beyond what had been budgeted when the MRTS was thought of. And here too, integration with other public transport services has remained a dream, thereby limiting its usage. If the Metro is treated the same way, road-users cannot expect much relief from traffic density.

Lastly, the flyovers and grade separators, touted as the panacea for all our traffic ills, have really not achieved much. They take away valuable road space, prevent access to underground services such as drainage, and only serve the function of shifting the bottlenecks by a few hundred feet. A recent study by a city newspaper has said that the grade separators can actually be huge risk spots given the tendency of most road-users to speed up on these structures. The different levels have a very thin wall that separates them and these could be easily breached by a vehicle that has lost control, thereby causing mishaps at various levels. It is clear that the authorities have no clear plan for handling the higher traffic density that lies ahead.

So, for Chennai’s road-users, it is only more traffic congestion in the future.