Commuters in Coimbatore seek ‘divorce’ of 1km stretch from National Highway

COIMBATORE: People living in areas nearby the stretch of the Mettupalayam Road from VG Hospital to Vadamadurai and commuters, who use the stretch, on Monday sought ‘divorce’ of the 1.03km stretch from Mettupalayam Road (NH67), as they said it was in a poor state, causing severe inconvenience to motorists. They said there have also been accidents in the stretch due to its poor condition.
In a ‘divorce invitation’ distributed by them, the residents and road safety activists sought divorce of the stretch from VG Hospital to Vadamadurai, dubbed ‘daughter of the public’, from the Mettupalayam Road (NH67), dubbed ‘son of the national highways department’.

They had said based on a road safety audit, the 1.03km stretch was found unsafe and the National Highways Authority of India had decided to widen it and relay it with service lanes.

While five months before the road was laid at a cost of Rs 9 crore, its condition has become bad, they said. The stretch was damaged in several places and though the NHAI had done patchwork on the damaged portions, it had peeled off, they said.

“Because of his there are depressions and damages at several points on the stretch. Motorists who see a damaged portion, apply sudden brakes or take sudden deflections, which is very dangerous on the main road,” said a commuter who travels through the stretch daily.

M Deventhiran, secretary of the Road Safety Association, said while regular commuters in the stretch know the location of the damage and navigate it, tourists and new commuters face risk as they could not asses the damages on the road.

“The asphalt has come off at places as the road was laid over the existing surface. If they had scraped of the old surface and had laid the new road over it, it would have endured,” he said. “We are seeking that the officials relay the damaged portions after scraping off the existing surface.”

When contacted, an NH official who is responsible for the stretch, said they would start relaying damaged portions of the stretch by Monday night. “We have already arranged rollers. We would scrape off the old surface and relay the damaged portions again,” said the official.