Highways Department takes up repairs of roads damaged by rain in Chennai

Following the intermittent respite from rain this past weekend, the Highways Department was able to fix 241 potholes and patch up 32 damaged locations on 613 km length of roads under its control in the city. Repairs are being taken up according to the damage.

“We have been monitoring the roads with teams of inspectors and engineers 24×7. We are using different materials including wet-mix macadam and cold-mix bitumen to fix damages that happen due to rains. Our aim is to ensure the safety of motorists. During the next break in rain, more repairs will be carried out,” said Highways Minister E.V. Velu.

The department maintains over 66,000 km of roads in the State, and only those that had very high traffic density were damaged due to rainand improperly restored road cuts, he added.

Temporary fix

A Highways engineer pointed out that due to infrastructure works, stretches where vehicles were being diverted were carrying more loads and that led to disturbances to the top layers of the roads. This can be up to 0.6 metres in depth, he added. At locations where only the top layer has worn-off, cold-mix bitumen is used. This is a quick fix and using a small machine, the workers are able to level it and repair the roads, explained a source in the department. For large potholes, wet-mixes, where various sizes of blue metal and quarry dust are mixed, is used. This is only a temporary solution to prevent vehicles from going into really deep holes filled with rainwater.

Two locations that caught the attention of motorists this time was the stretch in Tambaram – Velachery Road near Pallikaranai, and also at Kumananchavady. Apart from damaged road, water logging also caused motorists to get irritated.

“These locations do not have storm water drains and are low-lying. We have taken up temporary repairs. At Pallikaranai, a court case has forced us to let the road be narrow at that point. As far as Kumananchavady is concerned, it is a newly added road and it will be upgraded soon,” said another Highways engineer.

Anna Salai

Karthick, an auto rickshaw driver, complained about the poor quality of road along the elevated corridor construction site on Anna Salai.

“There is also a long cut near GP Road that has been badly patched up. Damaged road stretched while slowing traffic, also cause more wear and tear to vehicles. Drivers also become agitated due to this during the rain,” he added.

A source in the Highways Department said that repairs along the construction site of the elevated corridor on Anna Salai would be taken up once there is some respite in rain. “We cannot use bitumen or concrete when it is wet,” the source added.