The ordeal of road users on Mangaluru-Bengaluru National Highway 75 on the outskirts of the city is likely to continue for one more month as the National Highways Authority of India has said that the road beneath the new railway overbridge at Padil will be opened only by the end of September.
After the onset of monsoon this year, the woes of motorists on the road between Mangaluru and B.C. Road and beyond too increased as the stretch developed potholes and craters.
Vehicles moving slowly to negotiate the stretch had a cascading effect at both ends — city as well as Bantwal — with vehicles lining up for long distances.
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The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which laid a fresh coat of bitumen top on the existing road during summer, however, blamed the absence of rainwater outlets for the situation now.
NHAI Project Director Z. Samson Vijay Kumar told The Hindu that water stagnation was the main reason for the road turning from bad to worse during the rainy season.
A permanent solution to the problem requires diversion of traffic for specific periods, which seems impossible following the non-availability of alternative roads, he said.
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Fresh design
The road beneath the new railway overbridge was supposed to have been thrown open to traffic before the onset of monsoon thereby alleviating the woes of the motorists. However, according to Mr. Kumar, the Southern Railway intimated NHAI that provision has to be made to lay another track over the railway overbridge as it is planning an additional rail line. NHAI had to make a fresh design and get it approved from the headquarters and that took some time.
As per the fresh design, another concrete slab of 11 m in width towards Mangaluru would have to be constructed to facilitate an additional railway track. Work on this would commence next week and traffic on the road below could be allowed after about a fortnight, Mr. Kumar said.
One more work
The Railways would undertake the work of widening and strengthening the old railway overbridge once the new overbridge is commissioned, Mr. Kumar said. It might not affect vehicular flow significantly as the new road is wide enough to accommodate traffic, he added. As a temporary measure, NHAI, along with Mangaluru City Traffic Police, has been filling potholes with gravel to smoothen flow of traffic.