Indian Express 24.05.2010
Slope on busy road, worry for civic body & drivers
Stuti Shukla Tags : roads Posted: Mon May 24 2010, 04:14 hrs
Mumbai: One of the busiest roads in the city has thrown up a unique problem for the civic body and Mumbaikars. The level difference between two lanes on the Lala Lajpatrai Road from Lotus Junction in Worli to Haji Ali Heera Panna Junction has turned a nightmare not just for motorists but also for the roads department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.The ongoing concretisation of the one-km stretch has created a slope between the lanes on the road leading to Haji Ali Junction outside the Lala Lajpatrai College. The lane next to the divider has been concretised while the other three are still in asphalt, which has created an angular height difference of almost 45 degrees.
An official from the roads department confirmed that since the concretised lane was on a height, the lane next to it had sloped downwards. “Since there is heavy traffic flow on this road, we cannot carry out concretisation work on more than one lane as it would bottleneck the traffic further. We have received many complaints from citizens about the angle at which the cars have to ride; we understand that it is a traffic hazard too.”
Chief engineer (Roads) AV Ralkar said the BMC planned to raise the level of the other lanes by laying additional layers of asphalt to solve the problem. “It is not possible to concretise the stretch overnight. So to solve the problem temporarily, we will carry out asphalt laying on these lanes till they are taken up for concretisation.”
The BMC has completed work on three of the eight lanes so far. The work is slated for completion by May 2012.
