Chennai
“Due to potholes and road cuts at many spots, the narrow road is facing traffic snarls during peak hours,” a shop owner, who preferred anonymity, said.
Nearly 2 km long Choolaimedu High Road is one of the major interior roads in Kodambakkam and Nungambakkam locality that connects Kodambakkam railway bridge and Nungambakkam subway.
“Many residents of Trust Puram, Saurashtra Nagar, United India Colony and other areas of Kodambakkam and Nungambakkam, who want to avoid traffic signal on arterial roads, are using this road to commute,” the shop owner said.
Many potholes remain unattended and the civic officials are yet to make even temporary arrangements.
“Due to the potholes, the road has turned vulnerable to water stagnation during monsoon.
At a time when we are suffering hardship while driving on this road, the road has been dug for laying water pipes in many places,” A Manoharan, a biker said.
While the Chennai Corporation officials said that the road would be repaired after the completion of works, motorists expressed discontent as they would be forced to wade through sludge during rains.
It is apparent that many road cuts made by service departments are yet to be repaired adding to the motorist woes. “As the road has hundreds of shops on both sides, service departments make road cuts more frequently. But Chennai Corporation delays the repairing works,” the shop owner added.
Although the road cuts were repaired in a couple of spots, they offer no use for the motorists as the works are substandard. The contractors had repaired some road cuts without levelling the soil making the roads cave in again.
“Even after the bitumen and concrete used to repair the road cuts, they were turned potholes as the contractors failed to tighten the soil. Still, the motorists are forced to experience bumpy rides when they cross those ‘repaired’ road cuts,” Manoharan said.
Apart from offering hardships to the motorists, lack of footpaths also irks the pedestrians. “Due to the narrowness of the road and increased traffic movement, walking on the road is difficult. The corporation should remove encroachments and lay footpaths,” M Vishnupriya, a pedestrian said.
If you notice any civic issues unattended by authorities, pleasewrite to us with a photograph at citizen.dtnext@dt.co.in
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