With the condition of Kundannoor-Maradu-Pettah NH corridor turning from bad to worse, commuters, especially residents and traders on either side of the stretch are in a catch-22 situation.
Faced with damage to vehicles due to the back-breaking ride through the ill-maintained NH stretch, many commuters travel additional distance and take a turn from Vyttila, to reach Pettah and back. Incessant rain has made even this tough, forcing many to use the potholed stretch.
All through the past year, the PWD-NH wing was facing flak for shoddy upkeep of the busy stretch which is also used daily by thousands of container, tanker and national-permit lorries.
The contractor to whom we entrusted the resurfacing work of the stretch has been attending to big potholes, and filling them using granular sub base (GSB).
“We have been pressurising him to restore more potholes as soon as possible. Many trees on the stretch have already been axed to build drains and to earmark space for pedestrian movement. Resurfacing and other permanent restoration works like paving using concrete blocks can be done only after the rain takes a break,” said a senior PWD official.
Just like the ongoing patch works done using GSB, rectification works done a month ago using wet-mix macadam (WMM) as part of a ₹17.73-crore road strengthening work too did not last long. Residents have all through been complaining of slow progress of repair works despite a noticeable fall in number of vehicles due to COVID-19 restrictions.
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