Craters unleash chaos on Bengaluru-Tumakuru highway

Bengaluru: Traffic on the busy Bengaluru-Tumakuru highway was thrown out of gear for several hours Saturday following heavy rain, which tore apart the asphalt and caused craters to appear on some stretches.
Things turned so bad that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials had to undertake emergency repair work while traffic police had to put in extra effort to ease the situation.According to sources, home minister G Parameshwara also faced the heat of a traffic jam in the early hours when he was on his way to Tumakuru from the city.
Nelamangala traffic police personnel said they received information about potholes and traffic jams at 5am. They rushed to the spot to find big potholes forming over around 50m on NH-4 near Arkavathy bridge.
A senior officer said a few potholes were 1.5ft deep and 3-4-feet wide. “Along with potholes, there was waterlogging when we received an alert. Police had to clear the blocked holes to make way for the water to flow into the drain. We had a tough time making way for motorists. Since there were potholes on the NH, motorists started moving on the service road, resulting in a jam on both stretches,” the officer said.
At 8am, Parameshwara was heading towards Tumakuru. The escort vehicles were taking him on the highway. When they neared Arkavathy bridge, they were stuck in traffic for a few minutes. Nelamangala traffic police explained the situation to Parameshwara and diverted his vehicle to a service road and connected back to the highway through an alternative road.
‘Need probe & action’
Manjunath, a commuter, told STOI that vehicles started piling up from Parle-G factory. “By the time I passed through the potholes, it took me almost 40 minutes. If the NH road has potholes after just a couple of days of rain, it indicates shoddy work. There should be a probe and action taken by the authorities,” he said.
Suresh K, a resident of Tumakuru Road, said: “NH-4 has only two lanes and a service road; even if there is a vehicle breakdown, traffic will be largely hit. This road connects to over 20 districts and neighbouring states. Road maintenance is vital. We saw vehicles piled up for almost 8km from the biscuit factory till Makali.”
“Soon after we got the alert, we arranged for labourers to bring crushed stones and started filling potholes. Later, we alerted the NHAI officials. The repair work was completed by 6pm. But traffic movement is slow even after 7.30pm,” a traffic officer said.
According to NHAI officials, heavy vehicular movement accompanied by heavy rain led to the situation. “We fixed the problem in the evening,” they said.