Hundreds of heavy vehicles, including trucks and buses, pass through this stretch every day. But the hideous road stretching from Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) to Prakasam Barrage has become a nightmarish experience for road users.
The potholes and road margins being completely washed away are problems that have to be mentioned. After the heavy rains during last couple of days, it has been double trouble for the road users. The rains have caused deep potholes on the road with the vehicles literally getting stuck in them.
The vehicles move bumper to bumper as traffic comes to a grinding halt on any given day due to bad condition of the road. The narrow road near Kanaka Durga temple ups the ante as the buses coming from PNBS and heavy vehicles from Guntur, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam have to pass through this section to go to Hyderabad. The two-wheeler or car drivers, who want to avoid the congested flyover near Kaleswara Rao Market to go to Bhavanipuram and beyond get caught in traffic invariably.
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The rains have only worsened the situation, washing off parts of the road causing huge pits. Though the road was not inundated totally, the potholes were filled with rain water making it difficult for people to negotiate them. “Traversing the bad roads is nothing less than a nightmare for people, particularly those driving two-wheelers, as they run the risk of hitting a pothole or even skidding due to mud,” says Kranti, a college student.
There have been quite a few accidents due to bad condition of road and water-filled potholes on this section without moving the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) into action.
The NHAI officials, however, say that work on repair and re-carpeting of the section of the road from Prakasam Barrage to VMC office would be taken up shortly. The delay was being caused by the rain. A brief lull of two-day was enough to re-carpet the road, they say.
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