For many residents, bad roads mean blaming the Chennai Corporation for inefficient work. But what many don’t realise is that in the expanded city, a total of 52 roads stretching across 250 km are maintained by the State highways department. Of these, arterial roads that carry over 20,000 commercial vehicles a day including Anna Salai, Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Poonamallee High Road are in better shape than most roads.
“These are classified as national highways due to the heavy traffic. Each road carries around 1.7 lakh vehicles a day, the top wearing course is of 50 mm thickness intended to make the roads last longer. The roads are designed according to a traffic census conducted once in three years. We also have a good quality control system in place where every stage of road-laying is closely monitored. Also, since the works are worth more than Rs. 2 crore, only pre-qualified contractors, who have enough experience, are awarded the contracts, thus ensuring minimal issues,” explained a retired highways engineer.
However, these roads too are not free from water-logging during the monsoon. “We do not have stormwater drains in a few places – some were removed during Metro Rail work — and in others, the lead-off drain is not available, causing inundation. When vehicles pass through a road where water has stagnated for more than 24 hours, the top layer gets damaged. We have now received Rs. 250 crore for the construction of drains and footpaths and widening of the roads wherever we have space. The work will begin by May,” explained a source in the department.
The State government has allocated the amount for works on four roads coming under the city roads division within the extended Corporation areas. The tender process is on currently.
Residents complain that some roads get better treatment. “Highways roads near Ambattur, Avadi and Manali in Tiruvallur district are hardly laid. The Andarkuppam road has remained pothole-ridden and dusty for over a year now and so also the Madhavaram Bazaar Road. Since there is no centralised complaint number, we are unable to register our complaint,” said M. Mahalingam, a resident of Manali.
In the south, fewer roads such as GST Loop road, Medavakkam main road and Pallavaram- Kundrathur road need repairs. Many highways roads are plagued by problems of encroachments leading to reduction in lane width. “On Pallavaram- Kundrathur Road, Chennai Metrowater’s pipe-laying work has been going on for quite some time and residents are suffering due to lack of water. Half the road has been dug up and there is not enough space for two-way traffic. In this day and age, roads are being dug up. Can’t they come up with trench-less solutions?” asked D. S. Sivasamy, president of Confederation of Organisations for Integrated Urban Development.
Quality control mechanism
The highways department has a separate quality control wing to monitor all road work
The wing put in place a three-tier quality control system four years ago
1) The bituminous macadam mix is prepared under the supervision of an assistant engineer (quality control) and assistant divisional engineer (quality control)
2) The divisional engineer (quality control) conducts random checks during the laying of roads. Road samples of a diameter of 7 cm are lifted to check for density and to see if the work has been carried out according to the estimate
3) The director, highways research station, under whom the quality control wing functions, also conducts random checks
An independent divisional engineer of the projects wing of the highways department is in charge of quality control of roads in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Thiruvannamalai, Chengalpet and Vellore divisions
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