Roads in the city and the suburbs have already started to give way after short spells of rains during this northeast monsoon. Following a rise in accidents, residents have started visiting the Chennai Corporation offices to report damages to roads and rising road-traffic accidents in their neighbourhoods.
According to preliminary estimates by the Chennai Corporation, at least 15% of the 471 bus route roads have been damaged. All of the bus routes were relaid only recently. After the onset of the northeast monsoon, potholes have started developing in many of the 18,000 interior roads that were relaid in recent years. “We have identified 70 bus routes roads that have been damaged,” said a Corporation official.
Justice Sundaram Road resident Mathangi Anand says the stretch has been damaged after the rain. “The Corporation relaid the road in September 2016. Now, potholes have developed, posing a risk to motorists. Today, two motorists were injured,” says Ms. Anand.
Nungambakkam resident Veera Kumar says stretches such as Jayalakshmipuram First Street and Kothari Road have developed many potholes after the recent spell of rain. “They relaid the stretch two years ago. However, the road seems to have been relaid without proper compaction and adequate quantity of bitumen,” says Mr. Kumar.
The stretch between Vijaynagar bus terminus and Gandhi Main Road in Velachery has been damaged. Residents said the road which was prone to flooding was dug up by Metrowater for laying sewer pipelines and have not been properly restored.
Similarly, interior roads in VGP Selva Nagar Extension, Velachery have been damaged. “This road offers access to a private school. Parents and students have been affected by the bad condition of the road,” says R. Kumar, a resident.
“The road gets flooded with stormwater and sewage only adds to the problem. Students have to wade through sewage on Bethel Avenue. The road was dug up only a few months after relaying,” he says.
D. Thirunakkarasu, former deputy director of Highways Research Station, says roads should last for at least five years. “Roads relaid using inadequate quantity of bitumen get damaged soon,” he adds.
Suburbs even worse
In southern suburbs, several main thoroughfares have been damaged after the rain. On three occasions, buses got trapped in the potholes, throwing traffic out of gear for more than two hours on Mudichur Road in Tambaram. Office-goers from Tambaram dependent on MTC buses were at their wits’ end trying to reach on time. Medvakkam Main Road in Kovilampakkam, Indira Gandhi Road in Pallavaram, Pozhichalaur Main Road, Dargha Road and P.V. Vaithilingam Salai in Old Pallavaram developed craters at many places.
Following a review of rain affected areas, officials of Pallavaram Municipality said work on re-laying the roads would begin in a phased manner once the pipe-laying works were over. Roads in Chitlapakkam and Sembakkam including Pamban Swamigal Salai, Babu Street in Chitlapakkam and Mahalakshmi Nagar Road and Sri Rajarajeswari Nagar road in Sembakkam have been damaged, residents said.
( With Deepa H. Ramakrishnan, R. Srikanth, T. Madhavan )
