In a relief to residents and motorists, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has assured that four service roads – three between Golden Dye’s Naka and Kopri Junction along the busy Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and the other along Shil-Diva Road – would be free of potholes for the next five years.
The corporation has claimed to have repaired them using stone mastic asphalt technique that has a shelf life of five years. Keeping in mind how the condition of roads deteriorates in the monsoon due to heavy traffic, TMC has used this technique.
Earlier, TMC had conducted a trial run by adopting this technique at the service road near Viviana Mall along EEH. After its success, it has been implemented on four other stretches as well.
“The Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) has been used on four service roads in the city namely Golden Dye’s Naka to Cadbury Junction, Cadbury Junction to Nitin Company, Teen Hath Naka to Kopri Bridge and Shil-Diva Road. A total amount of ₹7Cr has been spent on the repair work. Although the cost of this technique is 25% higher than other methods of concretisation, it has a shelf life of five years,” said an engineer from TMC.
In the SMA method of concretisation, an additional layer of asphalt concrete is laid before concretisation of roads, thus strengthening it further.
Irked by the poor state of roads in the city after the monsoon and the temporary repair work on potholes done during heavy showers, regular motorists and commuters have complained time and again to the TMC for better facilities.
Very few residents are hopeful about this new method of concretisation. “There have been many such promises made by the TMC in the past as well. One of the biggest projects under their smart city campaign was the Gladys Alwares Road that was concretised. There were promises that it won’t require any excavation and will be pothole-free. However, within six months, the situation was back to normal. Only post-monsoon can we say if this method is a success,” said Shashikumar Nair, an activist in Thane.
Nitin Paruti, 38, a resident of Majiwada and a regular commuter along these service roads, said, “Despite claims of concretisation of these roads, there are some patches that can still be seen on the service road along Korum Mall. It already seems like a haphazard job of concretisation. Moreover, the service road between Cadbury Junction and Nitin Company is a low-lying area and monsoon will lead to a lot of heavy traffic and water logging, thus deteriorating the road further.”