VIJAYAWADA: With a major portion of city roads being riddled with potholes, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has opted for bitumen polymer cold mix technology.
As part of the initiative, the VMC’s engineering wing on a pilot basis has started repairing the damaged portion of the stretch near IGMC Stadium on Saturday.
In all, the civic body officials have identified around 6,000 potholes that have cropped up across the city after recent rains. Municipal Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh, accompanied by the additional commissioner (projects) U Sarada Devi and chief engineer JV Rama Krishna, inspected the repair works undertaken by the engineering staff on MG Road and directed them to replicate the same procedure for filling up potholes across the city as soon as possible.
During the inspection, the officials informed Venkatesh that initially all loose material would be removed from the potholes, following which free mix stone chips of about 5 mm would be added and levelled. Finally, bitumen polymer cold mix would be poured into the pothole and water would be added to it. Adding water to the mixture will strengthen the road. The procedure can be used even during monsoons, a time when traditional procedure fail to yield desired results.
Venkatesh also directed the officials to undertake repair works of major roads on a war footing and also to place caution boards on stretches where work is underway.