News: Potholes choke up Golf Course Ext Rd traffic, no patchwork before October-14-09-2021
Gurgaon: Commuters have to wait for at least another fortnight before the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) begins filling up potholes and open patches on the Golf Course Road Extention.
The six-kilometre-long stretch on the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), between Vatika Chowk and Ghata village, houses several commercial buildings, residential societies, schools, and offices. The potholes on the road, however, regularly trigger traffic congestion in the area while intense waterlogging during the rains only makes matters worse.
According to GMDA officials, there are no plans to relay the road at present and only the potholes and damaged portions on the stretch will be fixed from October onwards. “As soon as the monsoon ends, we will fill up the potholes and the entire stretch will be repaired to make it traffic worthy,” a senior GMDA official said on Monday.
The official further attributed the dilapidated condition of the strech to three factors — first, the rains; second, the heavy volume of traffic that the road sees every day; and third, the road itself is quite old and so its condition is not very good.
Recently, the GMDA has sought public feedback on a project to revamp the Golf Course Road Extention. “A big infrastructural revamp is being planned for the stretch — construction of either underpasses or flyovers at five critical junctions along the stretch to help ease traffic flow. We are trying to speed up the process so that it can get approval and work can commence at the earliest. For the time being, the aim is to maintain the road. This will be done as soon as the monsoon is over,” the official told TOI.
Residents of the housing societies along Golf Course Road Extention, however, fear that a temporary patchwork may not address the problem for long. “Filling up potholes or simply repairing broken bits of the road is not a permanent solution. The issues will emerge again as time passes and will get exacerbated each time it rains. The road needs to be completely relaid so that the problem is resolved in the long run. Why should we have to wait for GMDA’s revamp plan, which may take years to materialise,” Anil Srivastava, a resident of Sector 50, said.
“It is not only frustrating but also embarrassing for us to be living in an area where the access road is in such poor condition. I had a gathering at my house a few weeks ago when it was raining. The mudflap of one of my guests’ cars actually fell off as they tried to manoeuvre through the potholes on Golf Course Road Extention,” Srivastava claimed.
BOX
Head: Bumpy Ride, Traffic Bottleneck
Where: 6-km Golf Course Road Extention stretch
Daily traffic: Approx 4,000 vehicles per hour
Issue: Potholes leading to traffic jam
GMDA plan: To fill up craters, patchwork
Commuters want: Complete resurfacing
