What is the ‘holed’ up in attending to potholes

Bengaluru, May 10: With monsoon around the corner, Bangalore roads are only expected to get worse in the next few months. Potholes and incomplete construction work is a recurring sight all around the city.

Residents of Hutchins Road and Lingarajpuram have witnessed several accidents over the last six months. These roads have been cratered along the way threatening two-wheelers to lose balance- harming the rider. Other unforeseen reasons such as garbage and unsupervised cows add to the menace.

The road under the railway bridge in Jeevanahalli, Cox Town, has been a major inconvenience for commuters to get across for years now. The road is marred with potholes and has an unusually high open drain to the left. Adding to this, a 1km stretch leading up to the underpass (from Baiyappanahalli), has no street lights making it even more challenging for commuters. "Since this underpass is the only option to get to the other side, it is more dangerous for pedestrians who have to manoeuver their way through in the dark, especially during the occasional water clogging. There are also iron rods sticking out of the battered road" says Govindraj, owner of a tea shop located a few meters away.

Jeevanahalli is also home to a large community for the visually challenged, most of who cannot afford public transport. The struggle faced by the members to walk a distance of just 100m on such worn-out surfaces is unthinkable.

Similarly, commuters using Devarachikanahalli Main Road complain about the deteriorating conditions of the roads causing intolerable traffic. Negligence of such areas by the authorities has only worsened the situation. "Due to the ongoing flyover and metro construction in Bengaluru, the whole city is congested and travel is a nightmare. People spend 3-4 hours on travel every day, impacting their life as quality time to be spent with family is spent on roads" says Sandhya, a commuter.

The recent digging of roads for the instillation of cable lines has left huge portions of roads unsuitable for vehicular movement. Broken pavements force pedestrians to walk on the roads causing more traffic.