A damaged concrete drainage pit near the Thirumullavoyal junction on Chennai–Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road is posing a threat to the safety of motorists and pedestrians. As a safety fencing has not been laid around the pit, pedestrians and motorists, who are aware of the problem, pass that section of the road with great caution. For those who don’t frequent this stretch, this pit increases the risk for accidents.
Permanent solution to the problem involves laying concrete slabs; as this road comes under the control of the State Highways Department, it has to carry out this work.
With the damaged two-feet-deep pit occupying nearly a portion of the carriageway, during rush hour, traffic snarls have become common on this section. As this section has become considerably narrow, motorists, including drivers of MTC buses, find it difficult to negotiate it.
“Due to poor illumination around the spot, the risk of a pedestrian or a motorist falling into the pit is high. If the stretch around the pit has stagnant rainwater after a light shower, it will be hard to identify the pit, as no “danger” signboards have been put up near it,” says S. Ramaswamy of Thirumullavoyal.
Incidentally, the drainage pit is a stop-gap solution of the State Highways Department to collect excess water from the existing stormwater drains along the stretch. Months ago, drainage pipelines, especially the ones opposite the Thirumullavoyal police station near the Thirumullavoyal junction, were severely damaged during widening of the stretch. As a result, the drains were clogged, resulting in overflow of drainage water onto the road and into the neighbourhood. Officials then ordered that huge pits be dug up on newly-widened portions as “collection pits” to prevent overflow.
New concrete channels were laid on the junction to discharge excess rainwater. Though the officials attempted, on several occasions, to close the drainage pit with concrete slabs, the slabs were either damaged or crushed due to the high volume traffic on the stretch.
