Following the recent heavy rain in the State, the National Highways Authority of India, which manages over 5,000 km of roads in Tamil Nadu, has started marking water-logged points on its roads to prevent logging in future.
“We are also looking at places where water overflowed onto the main carriageway. We will ask our concessionaires, who maintain the roads and manage the 40-odd toll plazas, to take necessary constructions including drains across and alongside roads,” said V. Chinna Reddy, Chief General Manager (Technical).
Recently, water from the Porur lake overflowed onto the access-controlled Chennai bypass disrupting traffic on the road. “There are some drainage issues at that point. It will be sorted,” said a source in the NHAI.
Similarly, water had overflowed at a causeway at Narayanapuram on the Chennai – Tirupati highway (NH 205) disrupting traffic. Rakesh Chordia, Purasawalkam resident, who visits Tirupati often said the highway is not motorable in many places.
“At Narayanapuram, there is a bridge that is half constructed adjacent to the causeway. Though the NHAI is collecting toll to use the road, several structures including this bridge remain incomplete,” he said.
NHAI sources said the structural stability of the causeway had been ascertained by a team of experts, who said it was not weak. “Water is overflowing due to rain. Only recently land acquisition problems were sorted out there. Work to complete the bridge will commence soon,” said a source. On pot holes, Mr. Chinna Reddy said wet mix macadam had been used as a temporary measure. “Once the rains stop concessionaires everywhere have kept gangs ready and patchwork will be taken up. This time the rains were very heavy leading to water-logging in some places. Our cross drains are usually constructed based on the local channels and nullahs. But in many places, especially near urban settlements, encroachments block the water flow leading to water on the carriageway. The State government should remove encroachments and ensure garbage is not dumped on the sides of our roads,” he said.
