Motorists call out NHAI’s poor repair on EVR Periyar Salai

Following the complaints from motorists, the NHAI has filled up potholes. However, the uneven surfacing of the arterial road has added to motorists’ woes. The road surface remains uneven, particularly at Maduravoyal and Nerkundram.

“While we had to be careful about potholes till a month ago, we are now wary of the uneven patches on the stretch. The NHAI’s shoddy repair work to cover potholes had only added to traffic issues. I have also witnessed several accidents that happened when drivers had to apply sudden brakes due to uneven surface at many places,” said R Saravanan, a resident of Poonamallee.

K Mohideen, a resident of Tiruverkadu, claimed he hurt his back after driving on the Koyambedu-Poonamallee stretch regularly. “The uneven surface has created small potholes and bumps on the road. When driving, we have to suffer jerks. Despite riding slowly, I hurt my back due to this. Now I stopped riding my two-wheeler and started taking bus for my commute,” he lamented.

An NHAI official said that the road patch work done by the contractor after the monsoon. “We will look into the complaints from motorists and repair if the patch work was done shoddily,” the official said, adding that they would soon award contract for the maintenance of the Koyambedu-Maduravoyal section of the road.

The official said that the works are underway at Vellappanchavadi junction to avoid frequent damage to the road surface. “The road condition in the three junctions – Vanagaram, Velappanchavadi and Parivakkam – are getting frequently damaged due to the percolation of water into the bituminous pavement due to the constant spilling of water from the water tankers. In order to overcome this difficulty, it was decided to provide rigid concrete pavement at these junctions at a cost of about Rs 10 crore. We have completed the work on Vanagaram and now works are underway at Velappanchavadi,” the official added.