Motorists will have to put up with potholes Belapur: Motorists moving along the Sion-Panvel highway are a harassed lot due to crater-sized potholes on the roads. The public works department (PWD) has undertaken road widening and concretisation work along this stretch, but it has failed to repair the potholed stretch. The situation is serious because huge crater-sized potholes have come up just where the Belapur flyover starts. This flyover has earned notoriety as an accident spot because of its faulty design. “Several accidents have taken place near the Belapur flyover because of its faulty design and now to add to motorists’ woes, a large pothole has come up after the rains set in. This can prove to be fatal for motorists, especially two-wheelers,” said a traffic police official. The views of this official were shared by several motorists travelling along this stretch. “I travel regularly from Kharghar to Airoli. And this travel has become punishment for me ever since it started raining. Already due to road-repair work barricades have been put up which have narrowed down the highway. There is a regular traffic jam from Kharghar to Belapur stretch,” said Arun Chaudhary, a resident of sector 12 in Kharghar. He added, “The potholes are adding to the misery and drivers, in a bid to avoid, them take a sharp right or left turn which can at times lead to accidents. The PWD needs to cover large potholes near Belapur flyover with paver blocks.” The traffic department has already written a letter to the PWD asking them to first repair all the potholes and then carry out other road-repair work. “It becomes very difficult to manage traffic on the highway during rains, and potholes add to the mess. The PWD has been asked to repair all the potholes on the Sion-Panvel stretch first and then start work on other stretches,” said an official from traffic police. An official from the PWD’s office in Sanpada, who is not authorised to talk to media, said that the complaints regarding the Sion-Panvel highway have been communicated to their senior officers.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 07:29:57 +0000