Manali New Town: Residential streets turn into truck bays

CHENNAI: Frequent movement and parking of container trailers in the residential lanes of Manali New Town (MNT) have led to traffic congestion and safety issues, especially during school hours. While the service roads on Tiruvottiyur Ponneri Panchetty Road have been unofficially “given” to truck parking, lorries running through residential lanes have made life difficult for residents.

“Small accidents are routine here,” said John, who lives in Phase II of the township. Residents say narrow interior roads are often blocked by lorries, resulting in several minor accidents in recent months.

Four years after the Madras High Court’s direction to remove unauthorised heavy vehicle parking and garage activity in MNT, the residential township developed by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) in the 1980s continues to function as a de facto truck terminal for Chennai’s northern ports. Today, it stands overrun by container trailers, fuel tankers and heavy trucks parked round the clock along interior streets and vacant plots.

“No parking signs have no say here, and there has never been any regulation. We don’t even feel like we are living in a residential area anymore,” John said.

Residents in MNT say the neighbourhood has been reduced to a holding yard for vehicles waiting to access Kamarajar and Chennai ports. Roads meant for light traffic have caved under the load of multi-axle trailers, and night-time movement of lorries has made life unsafe.

“We can’t go by two-wheeler or even by bus when both sides of the road are filled with lorries,” said Nandagopal, a resident of MNT. “If there’s a ship at the harbour, the road will be jammed for hours. During those days, no one could move out, even for an emergency.”

In 2021, the Madras High Court, acting on a petition filed by the Dwaraka Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, ordered the Chennai Corporation (Zone II – Manali), the traffic police, and the TNHB to take “appropriate legal action at once” against those using residential plots as garages or for heavy vehicle parking.

Justice Krishnan Ramasamy, who heard the case, stated that “a residential plot allotted to the allottee is meant for construction of residential houses and the same cannot be used for commercial activities. The vacant plot cannot be used as a garage for heavy vehicles.”

Yet, four years on, residents say little has changed. Several vacant plots and even built-up portions continue to be used to service and park container trailers.

According to CMDA’s zoning maps, MNT Phases I and II are classified as purely residential areas, with only a narrow strip marked for limited commercial use. The TNHB’s layout plans make no provision for industrial or logistics activity.

However, the township’s proximity to Chennai’s ports and the petrochemical corridor has made it a convenient staging point for trailers operating between Kamarajar, Chennai, and Kattupalli ports. Around the township, several Container Freight Stations (CFS) handle container storage and maintenance.

“When there’s no load, they stop work and park the vehicles,” said a container trailer owner. “Parking in official yards costs four times more. There are private godowns and mechanic sheds here, so people use those spaces. When we came here earlier, there were no houses. Now it’s a residential area, but many still park because there’s no other place.”

He added that the trucks parked in the township are mostly idle between trips. “They don’t come here to go to the port every day. They park here when there is no work or while waiting for the next load,” he said.

For residents, however, the situation has become a daily inconvenience. “The government built these roads for the public, but they are being used by transport companies,” they said.

Nandagopal added that when ships arrive at port, the pressure intensifies. “For about ten days in a month, when vessels are berthed, every road from here to the harbour is lined with trucks. The service road becomes a parking lane, and even the main road gets blocked.”

Many landowners in MNT's Phase II have not built houses and have instead leased their plots to small operators who run vehicle service units, tyre shops, or informal parking lots. Noise and air pollution, residents say, have reached intolerable levels. Many internal roads laid decades ago are now cratered.

Speaking to DT Next, the Executive Engineer (Zone II) said parking regulation does not fall under the Corporation’s control and passed the responsibility to the traffic police. However, attempts to reach the Avadi Traffic police proved futile.

The situation in MNT mirrors a pattern across north Chennai’s port belt: residential neighbourhoods absorbing port-linked activities.

The three major ports handle over 100 million tonnes of cargo annually. Truck inflow has multiplied.

For a township designed specifically as a residential space, MNT today lies amid dust, warehouses and continuous heavy vehicle movement, creating frustration and fatigue among residents.