MARGAO
Repair works underway on the Margao flyover has raised many an eyebrow in engineering circles, with sources in the know only hoping the removal of concrete wear coat layer of the bridge does not make the ROB a perennial pothole ridden stretch in the future.
The PWD, National Highway is on the job to remove the top concrete layer on the bridge and replace the same with asphalt. Engineer Savio Coutinho, who heads the Shadow Council for Margao, only hoped that the ongoing works are designed after taking all technical aspects into consideration. He put on record his doubts about the works executed, saying the work may possibly lead the entire ROB into a perennial pothole ridden stretch.
“First and foremost, the peeling layer of the concrete wear coat has exposed the shoddy and haphazard work executed during the construction of the ROB. The surface after peeling off the wear coat has exhibited how severely uneven the concrete slab was laid. Due to this unevenness, the concrete wear coat layer was of uneven thickness, which resulted into potholes, exposing the steel within,” he said.
He added: “In the present design, hot mix carpet is being laid using fine course materials, probably to bring the surface to proper levels. And inspite of using fine course material, a bare minimum thick hot mix carpet layer was not possible at certain spots along the bridge.”
Coutinho wondered how firmly the hot mix carpet layer will stay bonded to the concrete surface is yet another big doubt. Knowing well the quality of hot mix prepared nowadays, we strongly apprehended that the layers of the hot mix shall disintegrate and result into potholes. Even the construction joints are now being sealed with hot mix carpet layers, which we hope will stay in place,” Coutinho hoped.
He feared that due to the constant development of potholes over the ROB, the PWD may be left with the only short cut remedy of laying hot mix carpet layers year after year, as is being done in the Margao city; thus raising the levels of the road and eventually reducing the height of the parapet wall, while hoping that the concerned department looks into all these aspects before the completion of the repair works.
