Kolkata Municipal Corporation expands road smoothening project with new machinery and extended plans
Times of India | 26 March 2025
123456 Kolkata: Motorists and bikers may hope for relief from bumpy rides on Kolkata roads with the civic body set to iron out undulating stetches in several city roads.
A Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) roads department official said the road smoothening project that had been intiated three years ago is being extended. Undulations in EM Bypass are currently being rectified.
While 30 km of undulating road surface was smoothened in 2024 including stretches of Bhupen Bose Road, Beliaghata Main Road, AJC Bose Road, Theatre Road, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Picnic Garden Road, Belvedere Road, Hastings Park Road, and Alipore Road, the civic body is set to take up stretches of major roads like Rashbehari Avenue, Sarat Bose Road (Western flank), Gurusaday Dutta Road, Gariahat Road, Vivekananda Road, Chittaranjan Avenue, Bentinck Street, Ripon Street, BB Ganguly Street, Baker Road (Alipore), and Roy Bahadur Road (Behala).
The KMC roads department has decided to buy five new road milling machines to smoothen the surface of these roads. According to a KMC roads department official, these machines will be added to the existing fleet of such machines to bring several stretches of major roads at one go.
"We have four road milling machines at present, which can't take the load of the road smoothening project for the major roads across the city. After the arrival of five new such machines, we hope to improve and expedite our road smoothening drive," said a senior official in the KMC roads department.
The KMC roads department took up 48 stretches of the city's major thoroughfares with a 2023 deadline for completion of the special project. Later, the deadline was extended. Some stretches of the major roads that were already repaved include SN Banerjee Road, APC Roy Road, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Gariahat Road, Ballygunge Circular Road, and Bankim Mukherjee Road (New Alipore), among others.
The KMC roads department conceived the road smoothening work in 2022 following CM Mamata Banerjee's diktat asking Mayor Firhad Hakim to iron out the undulations to give motorists and bikers relief from bumpy rides. A KMC roads department official conceded that they received regular complaints from motorists and bikers about the bumpy surface of several major roads. "Motorists and bikers often complain to us about undulations of roads. We admit that in several stretches of the city's major roads, frequent digging followed by hurried repairing leads to undulations. Undulations often lead to accidents, especially at night."
However, the challenges that the KMC roads wing might face include the digging of roads for the sake of underground utilities. For instance, the civic body will take up road restoration step by step on stretches of SP Mukherjee Road after the civic body's water supply wing finishes a project on the same stretches. Similarly, the KMC roads department will need to wait before it commences the special road revival project on Alipore Road, as the water supply wing has taken up a water supply modernization scheme on the same thoroughfare, said a KMC roads department senior official.
Kolkata: Motorists and bikers may hope for relief from bumpy rides on Kolkata roads with the civic body set to iron out undulating stetches in several city roads.
A Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) roads department official said the road smoothening project that had been intiated three years ago is being extended. Undulations in EM Bypass are currently being rectified.
While 30 km of undulating road surface was smoothened in 2024 including stretches of Bhupen Bose Road, Beliaghata Main Road, AJC Bose Road, Theatre Road, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Picnic Garden Road, Belvedere Road, Hastings Park Road, and Alipore Road, the civic body is set to take up stretches of major roads like Rashbehari Avenue, Sarat Bose Road (Western flank), Gurusaday Dutta Road, Gariahat Road, Vivekananda Road, Chittaranjan Avenue, Bentinck Street, Ripon Street, BB Ganguly Street, Baker Road (Alipore), and Roy Bahadur Road (Behala).
The KMC roads department has decided to buy five new road milling machines to smoothen the surface of these roads. According to a KMC roads department official, these machines will be added to the existing fleet of such machines to bring several stretches of major roads at one go.
"We have four road milling machines at present, which can't take the load of the road smoothening project for the major roads across the city. After the arrival of five new such machines, we hope to improve and expedite our road smoothening drive," said a senior official in the KMC roads department.
The KMC roads department took up 48 stretches of the city's major thoroughfares with a 2023 deadline for completion of the special project. Later, the deadline was extended. Some stretches of the major roads that were already repaved include SN Banerjee Road, APC Roy Road, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Gariahat Road, Ballygunge Circular Road, and Bankim Mukherjee Road (New Alipore), among others.
The KMC roads department conceived the road smoothening work in 2022 following CM Mamata Banerjee's diktat asking Mayor Firhad Hakim to iron out the undulations to give motorists and bikers relief from bumpy rides. A KMC roads department official conceded that they received regular complaints from motorists and bikers about the bumpy surface of several major roads. "Motorists and bikers often complain to us about undulations of roads. We admit that in several stretches of the city's major roads, frequent digging followed by hurried repairing leads to undulations. Undulations often lead to accidents, especially at night."
However, the challenges that the KMC roads wing might face include the digging of roads for the sake of underground utilities. For instance, the civic body will take up road restoration step by step on stretches of SP Mukherjee Road after the civic body's water supply wing finishes a project on the same stretches. Similarly, the KMC roads department will need to wait before it commences the special road revival project on Alipore Road, as the water supply wing has taken up a water supply modernization scheme on the same thoroughfare, said a KMC roads department senior official.