Vehicles slow down to avoid potholes and negotiate the uneven road.
This is an everyday sight on some roads in the city that have been dug up for the underground drainage works and the rain has made them worse. Regular users of these roads are fervently praying for they being re-laid.
The Coimbatore Corporation has remitted the amount to the State Highways Department to re-lay the Highway roads and works are likely to start in a week, says an official of the corporation.
An official of the State Highways Department says the works will start soon on the one-km stretch from Puliyakulam-Ramanathapuram.
The Highways Department will re-lay only the portion of the road that is dug up for the underground drainage works.
It had done so on Marudhamalai Road and the stretch from Gandhipark to Government College of Technology (Thadagam Road).
It has completed works on the Nanjundapuram Road (from Ramanathapuram junction).
Now, it will take up works from Puliyakulam to Ramanathapuram.
Re-laying of the road will have to be taken up on the Selvapuram — Perur Road too when the underground drainage works are completed, the official says.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, says that though only a portion of the road is dug up for the underground drainage works, in some areas the entire width of the road has to be re-laid so that people are able to use it without any inconvenience.
Hence, it becomes essential to re-lay the entire width of the road and restore it to proper condition.
The Highways Department should give an estimate to re-lay the entire road and not just the portion dug up for the works.
Further, the departments concerned should coordinate and plan properly so that the road re-laying work is taken up after completing the entire drainage works on the stretch.
This will avoid digging up the road after it is restored.
And, in areas such as Lakshmi Mills junction modern technology should be used and efforts taken so that the works are expedited and there is minimum inconvenience to the public.
S.K. Ravi Kumar, who uses Avanashi Road often, says that even a couple of days ago he had to wait for 20 minutes at the Lakshmi Mills Junction as the traffic moved slowly because of the works at the junction.
It should be difficult for those who use the road every day, he says.
M. Senthil, a taxi driver, says it is very difficult to drive on the road from Lakshmi Mills to Ramanathapuram.
The road is fully damaged and more than traffic problems, it is strenuous to drive because of the condition of the road.
