Poor Infra @ Coimbatore
A huge pothole preys on motorists on Avarampalayam Road in the city. An alternative route that connects Peelamedu with Gandhipuram and even Ganapathy is a mess because of potholes. A two-km stretch of Avarampalayam Road, between Gopal Naidu School and Sri Ramakrishna Hospital is at once and boon for and bane of vehicle users. The availability of this road is a boon to many living in Peelamedu
as they can use it to reach Gandhipuram without using Avanashi Road that is under expansion. But, numerous potholes make driving a nightmare on this road. “It is a mess out here when students come to school or return home. Potholes reduce motoring space and this creates traffic jam often,” says S.P. Ramaswamy of Shanthi Nagar, off Avarampalayam Road. “Every day, someone falls off a vehicle because of the potholes. The problem is very obvious, but nothing is done to solve it,” says Amirtham, a resident from the same colony.
There has been substantial traffic on this road because of students of various medical institutions attached to the hospital using it. Now, the work to expand Avanashi Road to six lanes has led to more vehicles using this road, Mr. Ramaswamy says. The road is not able to take this sudden rise in traffic. Its condition had begun worsening during monsoon last year and no repairs had been carried out. Now, heavy traffic is making matters worse, he laments.
U. Jayan, working at a lathe on this road, says: “Even yesterday (Thursday), two youths were thrown off their motorcycle when a car hit it. The car tried to avoid hitting a pothole, but rammed into the motorcycle coming in the opposite direction.” Mr. Ramaswamy says vehicle users are in deep trouble if rain water stagnates on sizeable portions of the road. “A deep pothole may be filled with rain water and the drivers may not spot it. This is how two-wheeler riders get hurt,” he points out.
Another problem is that when a stranger suddenly spots a pothole and tries to avoid it by slamming on the brakes or swerving to one side, his vehicle gets hit by the one coming behind. Avoiding a pothole at one spot by going off the road is fraught with the risk of hitting a transformer. To avoid this, one will have to get to the middle of the road and ram into an oncoming vehicle. If a pothole is at a curve, vehicles from a bylane shoot to middle of the road to avoid it. This is another cause for accidents, the residents and shopkeepers point out. This road should be considered one of the key stretches in the city, as it helps in de-congesting Avanashi Road. People from Bharathi Colony (at Peelamedu) can take this road and a connecting one near the hospital to reach Gandhipuram. From there, they can proceed to Ganapathy on Sathyamangalam Road. This helps them avoid Avanashi Road and also halting at seven to eight signals up to Gandhipuram.
Vice-president of Residents’ Awareness Association of Coimbatore G. Soundararajan says this road is the route to eight schools and many industrial units. Unfortunately, it has not been maintained properly. As this is the only alternative route to Avanashi Road, the Corporation must bestow immediate attention on it and carry out repairs soon. “Apart from the potholes, the condition is worsened by a couple of garbage containers that have been placed almost in the middle of the road,” he says. Many multi-storeyed residential apartments are coming up on either side of the road. These provide a clear indication of the rise in the number of vehicles that is to happen. Therefore, repairs must be carried out soon, they say.
