Potholes hold up traffic on DH Rd & Strand Rd, KMC takes up patchwork
Times of India | 30 July 2025
Kolkata: The weather god played spoilsport for yet another day as efforts by KMC to repair roads — at least temporarily — for smoother traffic flow were severely hit as the showers washed away repaired portions of major thoroughfares like DH Road and Strand Road.
Even as cops sent SOS, there was a major slowing down of traffic on Tuesday morning at Mominpore on DH Road and near Howrah Bridge approach on Strand Road, which developed deep craters. The KMC tried to respond immediately, carrying out significant repairs on Strand Road.
During Tuesday morning peak hours, it took almost 20 minutes to negotiate the stretch between Remount Road-Mominpur-Ekbalpore, which otherwise takes half the time. "The traffic here is extremely busy. Even allowing one lane vehicle to another was not enough to control the situation," said a sergeant.
The KMC roads department attributed the reason to the metro work. An official said, "The metro work is on. They dig up the road while KMC does the patchwork. Until the work is over, we are unable to take up any thorough repairing work. We have plans to repair the road with a plastic hot mixture that will involve the use of shredded plastic waste, hot gravel, and bitumen.
""The metro work here has thrown up multiple challenges to traffic for several weeks now. But today was perhaps one of the most challenging days. I was scared that my car would break down anytime. I have decided not to drive my car till repairs are over," said Sanjay Mukherjee, a bank employee travelling to Park Street from Behala.
The area near Howrah Bridge presented another challenge. "The entire approach had developed craters. Speed of buses, and especially smaller vehicles, dropped to bare minimum," said a cop, adding that sergeants clicked photos at both spots and sent them to KMC. According to a senior official at KMC, the downpour worsened the condition of the approach road to Howrah Bridge. "After being apprised of the situation, our team started patchwork on the battered stretch. This area is prone to waterlogging, so we have decided to repair it with interlocking concrete blocks once the monsoon wanes away," said the official.