16 November,2011 08:06 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
Months after the inauguration, the road leading into the King's Circle flyover is pockmarked and uneven, slowing commuters down; MMRDA blames contractor
It was supposed to reduce your commute to South Mumbai by 20 minutes. But months after its inauguration, the stretch leading into the King's Circle flyoveru00a0-- the south-bound carriageway connecting Maheshwari Udyan and Tulpule chowku00a0-- is already in shambles. The uneven surface of the road has forced motorists to drive at extremely slow speeds of about 10 km per hour.
Rough Ride: The dislodged reflectors and the patchwork on the stretch
has slowed down driving speeds to 10 km per hour. Pic /Pradeep Dhivar
To add to their woes, the reflectors installed on the flyover are also in utter disrepair. The abject state of the road has in fact slowed down commuting time to SoBo.
"Two wheelers are prone to skidding due to the uneven surface of the stretch. Moreover, the potholes are crammed with paver blocks, making them irregular and jagged. We have to slow down to avoid any mishaps," said K K Shukla, a daily commuter who travels between Masjid Bunder and Thane.
Authorities speak
MMRDA officials, who constructed the flyover, have been passing the buck on to the contractor.
Joint Project Director Dilip Kawathkar, MMRDA, said, "The flyover was constructed by J Kumar Infraprojects, and the problems have cropped up within the defect liability period. The contractor will have to resurface the layer. We will write to him asking him to immediately install the reflectors, which are in a terrible state."
Tiled road: Motorists avoid the bumpy paver block, which was used to
fill the potholes, at the King's Circle flyover. Pic/Shadab Khan
Sources in MMRDA told MiD DAY that the maintenance and resurfacing of the road surface on the small bridge was part of the flyover construction project, and the contractor had been asked to maintain the connecting small bridge as well.
MMRDA Commissioner Rahul Asthana said, "It will be wrong to say that potholes have appeared on the bridge, but MMRDA will see to it that the commuters don't suffer any inconvenience."
MiD DAY had earlier reported in its June 30 edition that the reflectors, or cat's eyes, installed on the southern arm of the flyover had started getting dislodged from the road surface 10 days after the inauguration ('Cat's Eye curse on Barfiwala flyover'). MSRDC officials had said that contractor would be asked to fix the reflectors.
No action was taken, however, and the condition of the reflectors deteriorated steadily.
Hasty launch
The Maheshwari Udyan-Tulpule Chowk flyover was thrown open to vehicular traffic by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in the month of May. The 1.5 km-long flyover, which is 17 metres wide, provides two south-bound and north-bound lanes each.
