Haphazard work by NHAI

Mangaluru: National Highway 66 between Mangaluru and Surathkal, a four-lane road turned into a stretch largely dominated by potholes last monsoon. The amount of craters made it difficult to call it a road at that.

Though the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) finally undertook restoration work in March and ended in April, it was done in quite a haphazard manner.

NHAI officials claimed that a contract worth Rs. 8 crore was awarded for repair of the Port Connectivity

Project highway that includes a 17-km stretch of NH 66 (NITK – Nanthoor) and a 20-km stretch of NH 75 (Nanthoor – B.C. Road).

The contractor filled most of the potholes and craters with bitumen. However they have not addressed issues relating to water stagnation on the main carriageway and on road shoulders. This is surprising since NHAI itself had admitted that water stagnation was the main reason for road deterioration.

An example would be the huge crater that was formed across the carriageway towards Udupi on NH 66 at its junction with Panambur Beach Road (between Kulur and Baikampady) last monsoon. The slope of the road surface towards the road median resulted in accumulation of water, damaging the surface. The

NHAI restored the road surface without addressing the root cause and leaving the slope as it was.

Similarly, the issue of water stagnation along the road shoulder between Nanthoor and NITK Surathkal has not been addressed which will result in the erosion of the surface of carriageways. Shoulder drains, have not been cleared of dirt to ensure smooth flow of rainwater.

The issue of water logging at the beginning of the Kulur flyover ramp that heads towards Mangaluru has not been addressed either. NHAI promised to provide a proper rainwater outlet to the shoulder drain of the adjacent service road. Not much surprise, that too has not been executed.

A regular user of the stretch, Naveen Poojary said looking at the work NHAI has carried out it looks like road users are set to face another troublesome monsoon.