A bumpy ride on major roads
MUMBAI: Potholed and pockmarked roads have raised their ugly heads earlier than usual. With barely a month of rains, major arterial roads and parts of both the Western and Eastern Express Highways are showing signs of strain—portions of many stretches have cracked open. If this is the state of affairs now, experts and motorists fear a ‘total breakdown’ when heavy rains lash the city, and are demanding answers from the civic authorities. Incidentally, most of the worst-affected roads, especially at important junctions, have paver blocks.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is in charge of most of these roads—that is after the MMRDA handed over 13 major corridors to the civic body a few months ago. The worst-affected are those corridors and arterial and internal roads that haven’t been improved in an integrated fashion in a joint effort by the MMRDA, BMC and the Public Works Department (PWD).
Last week, a court-endorsed body of quality auditors, the Standard Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), rapped the BMC for slow progress on integrated road work. “There are no problems on those stretches of roads where integrated work has been carried out, and concretisation has taken place,” said NV Merani, chairman of the STAC. “But roads —such as the ones that have been caught in the MMRDA and BMC tussle-—where contractors and utility work had a free run, are worse for wear.” In the last two years, the BMC has improved over 200 km of arterial roads in an integrated manner, but several have not met the standards set by the STAC.
The BMC started concretising work in 1989. Of the total 1,941 km road network—of which MMRDA initially maintained 150 km—around 437 kms have been concretised so far. “Every year we concretise 30-40 km, cover another 45 km with asphalt and nearly 20 km in interconnected block pavement,” said an official from the roads department of the BMC. The block pavements are the first to give way. Civic officials admitted that lack of funds is another reason for why pothole repairs have stagnated. Last year, more than 8.40 lakh sq ft of pothole repairs were carried out. This year, though, the cash-strapped BMC had directed its wards to restrict spending in pre-monsoon repair work to 25% of the allocated budget.
The Eastern and Western Highways are showing signs of wear and tear in many areas, especially at congested junctions. The PWD, however, which took over the maintenance of the highways from the MMRDA insists that nothing is amiss. The MMRDA also refuses to shoulder any blame. “We have widened and built concrete stretches. We established missing links, flyovers and drainages that are preventing flooding and traffic snarls,” said MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad.
The Eastern and Western Highways are showing signs of wear and tear in many areas, especially at congested junctions. The PWD, however, which took over the maintenance of the highways from the MMRDA insists that nothing is amiss. The MMRDA also refuses to shoulder any blame. “We have widened and built concrete stretches. We established missing links, flyovers and drainages that are preventing flooding and traffic snarls,” said MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad.
As the blame game continues, with promises that the next year will be better, motorists have no option but to accept the bumpy ride.