BENGALURU: Road design not conducive to Indian monsoon and citizen behaviour on the road, which sees them carelessly (and often intentionally) throwing waste on the road, have made TenderSURE roads a poor bet for heavy rains — especially when there is hardly any time for course correction with the monsoon expected earlier than before.
The TenderSURE roads were contracted out by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to reduce traffic congestion and are considered pedestrian-friendly, but are reportedly causing water-logging and traffic congestion whenever it rains — worse during monsoon.
One major issue observed about the TenderSURE roads is that they are narrow when compared to the footpaths. This is said to prevent smooth flow of traffic. Worse, these roads get water-logged during rains as the grills are narrow, the road gradient towards the shoulder is inadequate and indifferent citizens make it worse by dumping waste by the roadside.
A hotelier on Museum Road pointed to the jammed vents, which cannot drain water into the roadside channels: “Heavy rains cause water logging in most TenderSURE roads because vents are blocked with garbage thrown by road users”.
Dr Ashish Verma , Associate Professor of Transport Systems Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, said, “The main reasons for water-logging on these roads are absence of proper slopes — called camper — for the water to flow down to the side drains. Plastic waste also clogs the already shallow drains.”
An engineer who executed the TenderSURE projects on Cunningham Road and Vittal Mallya Road said, “Dry leaves fall during rains. Whenever waste issues are reported, local engineers are sent to clear the vents,” he said. “We regularly clean the grates. The chambers are cleaned regularly too and accumulated silt is removed... sometimes the chamber covers get stuck in the holes along with leaves. But these roads have been around for three years, and we have had no major issue.”
With monsoon ahead and water logging problems a huge concern on these roads, things expected to turn ugly.