Battered stretches of road, especially at important junctions, have made driving a back-breaking experience for motorists on the Chennai-Bangalore Highway. Residents, motorists and policemen want a cement road to prevent these problems.
The Bangalore Highway, especially the section from Madhuravoyal to Tirumazhisai junction, has been in poor condition for the past several years. Though the Highways Department has taken up some repair work along stretches near Madhuravoyal and Vanagaram, other portions still need attention.
Residents said that for the past four years the road has been bad. “We reach Chennni from Vellore in two hours. But just from Velapanchavadi to Madhuravoyal it takes the same time. So even buses avoid this route,” said A. V. Mani, of K.R.S.A Welfare Association, Thiruverkadu. He said that repair work that has started at Vangaram is proceeding very slowly. “The authorities should finish the repair work at the earliest. I avoid the road due to its bad condition and the traffic congestion caused because of it,” he added.
At the Parivakkam-Poonamalee junction, traffic moves at a snail’s pace due to the battered patch. “Every day a two-wheeler rider falls down due to the damaged patch of road,” said a traffic policeman who was on duty at the junction. He said that the main problem at this junction was the regular movement of water lorries.
“There are two bore-wells here and the lorries come here to fill water. We pool in money and repair the road on a regular basis. But it gets damaged again within a few days,” said N. Ramesh, traffic enforcement inspector, Poonamalee.
At the Thirumazhisai junction, after Nazarathpet police station, the road is damaged at its centre. “Due to this, traffic movement is dead slow. The stretch gets further battered every day due to the movement of heavy vehicles. The traffic signal here has not been working for the past month and this is adding to the problem,” said a staff member of a restaurant near the junction.
Meanwhile, police officers said that the National Highways Authority of India will re-lay the battered stretch at Parivakkam with concrete. “At Thirumazhisai, the police booth at the junction will be removed and the road will be expanded and re-laid. But it will take a couple of weeks,” added Mr. Ramesh.
