Only quality concrete roads can weather monsoon: Expert

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: With the city receiving heavy monsoon rains, experts and motorists demand that high-quality white-topped roads be laid, as they allege negligence on the part of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in this matter.

MN Sreehari, government advisor on traffic, transportation and infrastructure, alleges that the civic authority does not lay roads to improve mobility but to cash in on revenue.

“It’s a costly affair; however, the roads are of poor quality,” he claims.

Concrete roads offer a longer lifespan than bitumen roads. However, roads in the city lack proper slopes to facilitate water drainage into the drains.

“This is one of the reasons why roads are inundated even with minimal rainfall,” Sreehari adds.

The longitudinal slope of a road, as per definitions in highway engineering, is provided on the surface of the road in the longitudinal direction for the vertical alignment of the road.

“Next time, they need to hire competent engineers and ensure these slopes are established,” Sreehari suggests.

The poor quality of white-topped roads has sparked outrage among motorists. In Kasturi Nagar, commuters claim that a large pothole on a white-topped road was of little help, as an accident allegedly occurred in which an old man lost his phone.

According to reports, the BBMP earlier earmarked Rs. 1,700 crore to whitetop 134 roads in the city. However, concretization has sparked criticism, as it blocks water percolation and causes linear root growth.

The depleting groundwater levels and the uprooted trees during the monsoon show that over-concretisation of roads is a contributing factor to such issues.