CHENNAI: Ahead of the monsoon, Greater Chennai Corporation will be repairing potholes across interior and bus route roads to ensure that there are no accidents amid the heavy showers.
The civic body’s road department held a meeting in this regard on Monday evening with all engineers.
All zonal level officials were asked to submit a list of roads with potholes. The coporation is specifically looking for roads older than the defect liability period of three years. Fixing potholes on roads that are below three years old will be the responsibility of the contractors as it comes under the defect liability period, the official said.
Unlike previous years, top officials demanded the exact area and number of potholes that must be repaired on these roads. Tenders will be called for based on this data, an official said. A ward-wise line list has been called for by the works department.
There are around 34,000 such interior roads in the city and 10% to 20% of these roads are likely to be taken up for repairs. Similarly, around 50 bus route roads might be needing repairs, said officials.
The work will be divided into three categories. In case there is no rain during work, the potholes will be filled up with hot mix bitumen. If there are showers, the civic body will be using cold mix bitumen. For patching bigger craters, concrete or wet mix patches will be used, officials said.
“During rain, hot mix will not set properly in the pothole and this can also lead to accidents. Hence, a cold mix is used, despite it being three times costlier,” an official said.
For surface layer repair, the civic body uses only hot mix or concrete patches, the official added.
Cold mix bitumen emulsion is formed of mineral aggregate, water and binding material. It need not be heated up before use, unlike hot asphalt. It can be used directly from the packaging and left to cure.
The corporation said the cold mix supplied by contractors should adhere to specifications of the Union ministry of road transport and highways. It should also be such that traffic can be restored within a short duration after it has been applied.
