Taratala: Rain has peeled off the top layer of the Taratala flyover, leaving it in tatters and spelling danger for commuters.
Hundreds of cracks greet motorists on the Behala-bound flank while at least four giant craters stare at motorists on the mint-bound flank of the flyover.
It's a risky ride down the flyover, especially for those on two-wheelers.
"The craters are dangerous," said Amalesh Nandy, who rides a bike to his office in the Hastings area almost every day.
"Vehicles tend to skid on the crumbled surface and drivers have to apply the brakes extremely carefully," said Rajat Ghosh, a Behala resident who takes the flyover regularly.
The 640m-long flyover stretches from near the Alipore mint to Ajanta cinema. Built by Simplex, the flyover was opened to traffic in 2008 and is maintained by the PWD.
The flyover had been built to ease the notorious traffic bottleneck on Diamond Harbour Road at the Taratala crossing.
Tens of thousands of buses, taxis, private vehicles, two-wheelers and trucks take the flyover every day. But the craters have slowed down traffic. Long snarls are frequent, especially during morning and evening rush hours.
A senior PWD official said the agency carries out regular patchwork on the flyover. "The flyover is 10 years old. The traffic load is heavy and the volume is ever-increasing. When cars brake, the friction further damages the surface," he said.
The craters had been filled up earlier this month but the showers have undone the damage control. If water seeps into bitumen, it washes away the glue that binds asphalt. The road surface starts cracking as a result, the official said.
The PWD was to carry out a fresh round of patchwork on Tuesday night as well but the cosmetic filling is unlikely to withstand the next round of heavy showers.
"The bitumen and asphalt layers will be re-laid after Puja," the PWD official said.
The Calcutta Municipal Corporation, too, has decided to wait for the monsoon to end before taking up road repair unless a major thoroughfare is in bad shape or potholes on a stretch are too big to negotiate.
The approach to the flyover from the Behala end - a stretch of Diamond Harbour Road in front of Ajanta cinema - is in terrible condition. Some of the craters are up to three metres deep.
Sukanta Setu
A couple of large craters have appeared on the Santoshpur-bound flank of Sukanta Setu, baring a mesh of iron wires.
"The bituminous and top concrete surfaces have been damaged, exposing the mesh. It needs urgent repair; otherwise water may penetrate into the main structure and damage it," said an engineer of a private infrastructure company not associated with the flyover.
The bridge is maintained by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). "The crater will be repaired by Wednesday, provided it doesn't rain. It shouldn't take more than a day," a senior official of CMDA said.
