Monsoons - Road Condition Update

[hvkumar]

During the monsoons, roads get flooded, bridges collapse and there are serious disruptions in some parts of the country. Here is a currentt update:

ORISSA


NH60 (Balasore-Kharagpur, part of GQ bettween Chennai and Kolkata) is closed down because of serious flooding in and around Balasore and Dantan.

West Bengal floods leave 4 dead, 12 missing

[hvkumar]

ASSAM:

A 25-meter stretch of the National Highway 52 was washed away by swirling flood waters in North Lakhimpurcdistrict cutting the district off from the rest of the state by road. It will take about a fortnight to restore communication along the breached portion of the National Highway

Assam: Floods claim 17 lives

[hvkumar]

FLOOD THREAT IN KINNAUR VALLEY

NH21 between Shimla-Rampur-Recong peo-Sumdo en route Sangla, Sarahan, Kalpa and Spiti Valley (Kaza, Tabo) will be affected.

HERE IS A REPORT IN THE RIBUNE NEWSPAPER (contribution by tsk)


Shimla, June 18
The fear of flash floods with the water level in the Parechu lake once again rising has come to stalk the people residing in the villages along the Sutlej as the administration has sounded an alert in the districts of Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla, Mandi and Bilaspur.
Senior revenue officials have asked the deputy commissioners (DC) of these five districts to sound an alert and keep all arrangements ready in case people have to be shifted to higher areas. The hooter and sound system has been put in place to meet any eventuality.
It is learnt that the water level in the Parechu lake, which has become a cause of worry for the authorities for the past few years, has been rising.
The banks of the Sutlej have been divided into 11 sectors, seven of which fall in Kinnaur and the remaining in the Rampur area of Shimla district.
The sector officers, police personnel and home guards have been asked to be on duty round the clock so that people can be asked to immediately shift to higher areas in case there are floods. The Parechu lake meets the Spiti river at Samdoh, which later merges into the Sutlej at Khab. It was after the formation of a huge artificial lake at Parechu that India had taken up the matter with China to keep it informed about any rise in the water level there and had installed its own monitoring system at Khab.


The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

[hvkumar]

PUNJAB-HIMACHAL: Road to Dharamsala

Any update on the restoration of traffic on NH20 at Chakki Bank?

To jog memories, the causeway after Pathankot town owards Nurpur/Dharamsala was washed away last week.

[andy_dog_lover]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

NH60 (Balasore-Kharagpur, part of GQ bettween Chennai and Kolkata) is closed down because of serious flooding in and around Balasore and Dantan.

Thanks for the update hvkumar. Was going to undertake the journey through GQ from Pune to Kalimpong in 1st week of July. Hope the situation improves by then.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

PUNJAB-HIMACHAL: Road to Dharamsala

Any update on the restoration of traffic on NH20 at Chakki Bank?

To jog memories, the causeway after Pathankot town owards Nurpur/Dharamsala was washed away last week.

Here is an updated report from today's Tribune newspaper.

The Chakki bridge situation has worsened with fresh flooding, and he bridge is reported to be out of use for a long time to come.

Those driving from Pathankot to Dharamsala, please note that now NH20 is not an option any more.


The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

Chakki diversion bridge embankment washed away
Tribune Reporters

Nurpur, June 20
Flash floods in the Chakki rivulet near Kandwal in this subdivision has washed away a portion the embankment of the temporary Chakki diversion bridge built by the government last winter. This embankment was providing an approach to the diversion bridge. Some part of the embankment had been washed away on June 11. With the washing away of the whole embankment on the Punjab side, the chances of restoring traffic on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway (NH) through a diversion bridge during the current rainy season are remote. According to S.P. Sharma, assistant engineer, about 150-meter-long stretch of the embankment of the diversion bridge, including a few meters on the Himachal side, was washed away late last evening following flash floods in the Chakki rivulet. This Rs 32-lakh diversion bridge built using 270 pipes was thrown opened to traffic on January 15. This 90-metre diversion bridge was built as an alternative to the 118-year-old inter-state Chakki bridge washed away on August 9 last year.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

PUNJAB-HIMACHAL: Road to Dharamsala

Any update on the restoration of traffic on NH20 at Chakki Bank?

To jog memories, the causeway after Pathankot town owards Nurpur/Dharamsala was washed away last week.

Can anyone provide the details of the alternative route - via Damtal - to get back to NH20 from Pathankot?

[hvkumar]

KINNAUR VALLEY

Here is another report from Tribune today, on the status of the NH22, between Shimla and Sumdo via Rampur (for tthose going beyond Narkhanda to Sarahan, Kalpa, Sangla and Spiti Valley)

Hindustan-Tibet road opened

SHIMLA: Vehicular traffic on the Hindustan-Tibet road, which was closed due to heavy landslides at Jhakri, near Rampur, on June 18, has been resumed. It was around 11 a.m. today that the massive landslide near Jhakri was cleared, paving the way for vehicular traffic. It was on Wednesday that the road was closed following a massive landslide triggered by rain.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

ASSAM:

A 25-meter stretch of the National Highway 52 was washed away by swirling flood waters in North Lakhimpurcdistrict cutting the district off from the rest of the state by road. It will take about a fortnight to restore communication along the breached portion of the National Highway

Assam: Floods claim 17 lives

Report in Assam Tribune newspaper:

The Assam Tribune Online

Lakhimpur still reeling under floods
By A Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, June 19 – The current wave of flood has taken a toll of eight human lives in the worst affected Lakhimpur district, even as the Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level at Dibrugarh and the Jiabharali is flowing above the danger level at NT Road Crossing. The Brahmaputra is maintaining a rising trend at Dibrugarh. Five rivers of Lakhimpur district are in spate though they are yet to cross the danger level (DL). On the other hand, several rivers of the State are also maintaining a rising trend.

The districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji are cut off from the rest of the country for the sixth consecutive day, as, installation of the Bailey bridge on the breached portion of the National Highway-52 at Ganesh Udyan point near North Lakhimpur town to restore road communication, is yet to be completed. The 77 Mountain Brigade of the Indian Army and the State PWD (National Highway) are working for the restoration of surface communication through this Highway.

Lakhimpur district administration sources told this newspaper this evening that Upper Assam Commissioner John Ingty Kathar today visited the flood-ravaged areas of the district and suggested a floating bridge over the breached portion of the NH-52 to restore road communication as a short-term measure. He also asked the National Highway Authority officials to construct a permanent bridge over the breached portion in the aftermath of the floods.

Our North Lakhimpur Correspondent reports: The worst affected suburban areas of North Lakhimpur town like Bagalijan, Hatiloong, Jorhatiyagaon, Ghilaguri, Highjaan, Bantow, Chanmari, Bowalguri, Chinataliya and Khelmati are still under water. Affected people of these areas are still living in the makeshift sheds on the NH-52 and the Joprhatiyagaon-Bagalijan Road and in many temporary camps set up at various schools and public buildings.

However, relief work has been going on in war footing. Altogether 1,300 tube wells are also installed in the flood-hit areas of the district so far. But due to bad road condition, relief materials distributed by the district administration could not reach some of the interior areas of the district.

Meanwhile, the NHAI authorities have been dumping earth on the breached portion of the NH-52 in a bid to build a subway for restoration of road communication to North Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. The North Lakhimpur Police led by the Superintendent of Police, Lakhimpur has built a bamboo foot bridge over the breached portion of the NH-52 at the Ganesh Udyan point. The bridge was opened for public today evening.

[vabs78]

Good work hvkumar. Thanks.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

NH21 between Shimla-Rampur-

That's supposed to be NH22, if I'm not mistaken?

And
WOW!
That's the most comprehensive advisory I have ever seen for our roads!

Thanks for this, HVK!

[adc]

Originally Posted by andy_dog_lover

Thanks for the update hvkumar. Was going to undertake the journey through GQ from Pune to Kalimpong in 1st week of July. Hope the situation improves by then.

More rains are headed towards the Balasore-Kharagpur side within a week. Does not look like they will be ready with a temporary bridge by 1st week of July, situation is very bad now at those places . May be you can try out the Balasore - Digha route to again meet at Nh6.


Also Kalimpong is under 24 hour indefinite strike. No vehicles are allowed to enter beyond Coronation/Sevoke bridge.

NH-60, a road to disaster

BALASORE: THE NH-60, connecting Balasore with West Bengal via Jaleswar and lifeline of North Orissa after its four-laning, is now a curse of Balasore district.

Thanks to the highway, entire North Balasore, comprising four blocks has witnessed severe floods in two spells in 2006 and six consecutive floods last year. This year the situation is even more grim in the beginning of monsoon itself. Reason: Its design and construction lack required space for water discharge.

‘‘In the last three years we have lost everything,’’ Jagannath Dalei, a local. The ‘Orissa Trunk Road’, renamed NH- 60, was originally much lower in height and had sufficient ‘chatanas’ (causeways), to allow smooth flow of flood water. Though after its expansion, the 119.275 km highway (Orissa portion 53.5 km) shortened the distance by 70 km between Balasore and Kolkata, it has brought misery for the locals.

Earlier, besides many long causeways about 25 big bridges were there on the OT Road, but now only 15 bridges have been constructed in their place. ‘‘But NHAI hasn’t built the bridges where they were earlier. Though the State Government has understood the problem, no precautionary measures have been taken,’’ pointed out Debi Chand, a Congress leader.

Admitting that the design failure has caused the devastation, NHAI Project Director (Kharagpur division) RP Singh said, ‘‘We have constructed 10 major, five small bridges, besides 96 box and 45 humepipe culverts within 53.4 km. It is the US-based company, Sheladia, which can be blamed for the faulty design, not NHAI’’, he added.

The Centre has been apprised of the flaws in the construction, Singh said.

[diabloo]

Monsoon is not even a month old but already, 54 killed by monsoon rains in India !!!
Hope the road conditions improve soon.

[hvkumar]

Mangalore-ans, NH17-ers (Karnataka), Saklespur-ians (NH48 Hassan-Mangalore), Trissur-ites (NH47, Palakkad-Trissur), Nilambur-ians, Mahad-ians (NH17, Maharashtra), Dharwad-is (NH63, Hubli-Ankola), Behrampuris (NH5, Orissa), Surtis (NH8, Surat-Baroda), Davangere-ans (NH4, Hubli-Bangalore) and all others - please keep posting updates on the deteriorating road conditions in your areas, all these roads crack up badly during the rains. Newspapers in many areas don't even report bad roads any more, they are used to them!

[hvkumar]

NH 48, Shiradi Ghat, Sakleshpur-Mangalore

D A I J I W O R L D

Puttur: Shiradi Ghat Road Fast Slipping Back to Square One!


Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)
Puttur, Jun 21: It has only been about two weeks since vehicles were allowed to ply on Shiradi ghat section of the national highway 48. The public works department and the union minister for road transport had patted themselves on the back for the high quality maintained in restoring and partially rebuilding this part of the national highway, by asphalting and laying concrete interlocks at several bends on the ghat section which were prone to heavy damage, within a comparatively short period.

The asphalting of the road has started peeling off, laying bare the fakeness of the claim of high quality. The concerned had claimed to have spent Rs 5 crore for asphalting 11 kms of the road and another 22 crores for a stretch of 26 kms. However, the roads would have not cracked up as it has now, and rain water would not have got seeped and stored in these cracks, if so much sum had been actually spent. The drivers of buses moving on this road fear, that the road might become unmotorable within a couple of weeks, if the same trend continues. The road is facing highest danger from thousands of heavily loaded ore trucks that make use of this stretch to reach Mangalore.
The fact that exhaustive repairs and restoration works had been taken up by blocking traffic on the road for nearly eight months, had given rise to high expectations among the people about the quality of this road. The elation of the people who were tired of undertaking treacherous jounrey through the damaged roads of Charmadi ghat to reach Bangalore, at the time this road was opened for traffic, will perhaps be shortlived. What can they expect from a road that was claimed to have a long life of three to five years, crumbling under traffic pressure within two weeks?

Credit: Satyajit Shetty, indiahighways