The Hindu    23.08.2012

VMC roads are more or less in a better condition, says expert

Driving on bumpy city roads full of potholes, you often
would have cursed the authorities concerned for not doing enough to make
the drive a smooth affair.

Come rains and the travel
woes multiply with the water-logged streets compounding our woes. The
bad condition of roads can be attributed to factors like bad riding
quality, poor geometrics and insufficient pavement thickness. Only
properly designed roads can withstand the pressure of heavy vehicles.
Overloading is yet another reason for bad condition of roads. With a
considerable increase in the number of vehicles hitting the road each
year, the surface is battered to a point of generating potholes which,
over a period, transform into massive craters.

“Unlike
in the developed nations where laying of roads is planned well before
constructing buildings, we construct buildings first and then think of
other features like laying of roads,” says D. Bhavanna Rao, former chief
engineer, Quality Control, Road and Buildings Department.

Drawing
a comparison between roads in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation limits
and other cities like Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, he says the VMC roads
are more or less in better condition.

‘Bad practices’

Pointing
to the fact that rains damage most roads in Hyderabad, he says the life
of a road can be prolonged if stagnation of rain water can be prevented
by diverting the water. “A few bad practices in the past have been
eliminated. Earlier, gravel was used for every road but now, metal,
chips and dust is used to lay roads. If a road is repeatedly damaged,
one must try and find out the fault in the mode of construction
adopted,” he says.

Referring to places where a road
is repeatedly damaged at the same spot, he suggests construction of a
concrete road. “Concrete roads must be laid where chances of water
stagnation is more. This is because the chips come off the surface due
to movement of heavy vehicles,” he explains.

Mr. Rao
says after a visit to cities like Hyderabad, one would realise that the
overall scenario in Vijayawada is not all that gloomy.

• The life of a road can be prolonged if stagnation of rain water is prevented
• If a road is repeatedly damaged, one must find out the fault in the mode of construction: expert