Around 10 days ago, in Mumbai, a young female motorist was run over by a heavy vehicle following a fall caused by a pothole. There is a remarkably big, but not easily noticeable pothole at the Padi junction on Chennai-Tiruvallur High Road (towards Ambattur) and there is no reason why this one cannot trigger a similar accident. The pothole can elude notice, especially at night.
This pothole is the result of improper laying of this stretch. The re-laying work was started by the State Highways department after it had closed the trench at the extreme end of CTH Road following completion of cable-laying work. The incomplete and poorly-executed re-laying work created more problems that it solved. The open sewage drains overflowed on to the road, turning the stretch slushy. The cables were laid beneath the existing sewage lines.
“The Padi junction is narrow, and this pothole has made it narrower still. We have to negotiate between the open sewage drain on the extreme end and the wide pothole,” says S. Ramesh, a motorist who frequents Padi.
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Lack of sufficient illumination on a narrow bend is another concern. A few hundred metres from the junction, between a roadside temple near Lucas TVS company and New Saravana Stores in Padi is a narrow bend, which has no streetlights. The rest of the stretch has LED lights.
According to State Highways officials, a concrete median cannot be built on such a narrow space. As a result, lamp posts cannot be erected there either.
Motorists suggest that the State Highways should at least consider levelling the pothole with bitumen to prevent accidents.
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In response to this request, a State Highways official said, “We will take necessary steps to re-lay the junction with bitumen soon.”