Over 140 potholes scar Mumbai's 3 crucial bridges

MiD DAYrsquos visit to the crucial Elphinstone Rail overbridge Hindmata Flyover Dadar West flyover left no scope for ambiguity we counted and found that there are no less than 140 potholes spread across these three crucial structures all of which are lsquolooked afterrsquo by the BMCu00a0 Ups and downs MiD DAY spotted close to 100 potholes on the 500metre rail overbridge that connects Tulsi Pipe Road in the west to Dr Ambedkar Road in the east PicSuresh KK Elphinstone RoB MiD DAY spotted close to 100 potholes on the 500metre rail overbridge that connects Tulsi Pipe Road in the west to Dr Ambedkar Road in the east The potholes varying in shape size and depth gave motorists a hard time Abdul Gafar 49 who has driven taxis for 25 years said he was fed up with the problems that the potholes threw up ldquoThis is nothing new every year my taxi suffers extensive damage because of these potholes But there is nothing I can do I have to bear all the costs for repairing the damage caused by themrdquo Dadar West Flyover While many of the potholes on this crucial bridge appeared to have been hastily patched up there were about 15 that begged for attention making for an uncomfortable commute The potholes brought traffic to a crawl in the entire stretch Hindmata Flyover The flyover which usually allows an easybreezy uninterrupted ride from Parel to Dadar is now a motoristsrsquo nightmare thanks to its pockmarked surface Vehicles are now brought to a screeching halt on the stretch with bikes having to veer frequently to dodge the pits MiD DAY spotted 25 potholes on the flyover most of them concentrated on the southbound carriageway Questioned about the bridges Chief Engineer S O Kori said ldquoEven though it was raining heavily yesterday we managed to cover a few major potholes at the Elphinstone ROB As the rain got worse we were not able to continue the work through the night Tonight we will deploy workers at the Dadar West Flyover Hindmata Flyover and Elphinstone ROB and will make sure the work is done As soon as the city enjoys a dry spell we will make permanent repairs to the roadsrdquo Experts speak Transport expert Ashok Datar said ldquoThe city faces the same problem of potholes every year If the authorities know that the method they are using currently is not providing the necessary results they should either change their methods or the materials used If nothing else then international companies are the only other solution to our problemsrdquo Voices The Elphinstone Rail overbridge is a small road and to make matters worse there a many potholes on this bridge that make it very difficult to ride on If one is to slip anywhere on this bridge they can be run over within seconds Who will take the blame The motorist or the ones in charge of maintaining the bridge Milind Gawde 28 Prabhadevi resident I travel daily on the Elphinstone ROB and the Dadar West Flyover Both are littered with potholes making it difficult for me to ride my bike on Even in my area in Borivli potholes have made commutes very difficult The route from Elphinstone to Borivli usually takes 45 minutes but now due to traffic and potholes it takes me close to two hours to reach home Seth Kamal Hussain 40 Borivli resident Traveling over the Dadar West Flyover is a daily routine for me For as long as I can remember the monsoon every year brings severe traffic jams and potholes to this stretch It never improves Even if the potholes are covered mild rains cause them to open up all over again Shaikh Ismail 45 Saki Naka resident I often travel on this route and since I can remember there have been potholes on the Dadar West flyover Those who are in charge of maintaining the flyover should have repaired the road before the monsoon but clearly that was not done this year which has lead to traffic snarls None of these problems would arise if authorities filled in the potholes before the rains Taufiq Shaikh 24 works in Dadar