Ahmedabad: The traffic on SG Highway has been slowed down by Umpteen potholes, peeled-off road surfaces, uneven patches of road and it also inconveniencing the commuters. This ought not be the condition of a blood vessel street that associates Gujarat’s business center point of Ahmedabad with state Capital Gandhinagar and is home to a few emergency hospitals, business centers, shopping centers and multiplexes.
The disruption of traffic on account of bad road conditions has led to many small and big accidents. A recent mishap close to Adalaj, where heavy construction activity is on near the bridge, brought the focus right back on the state of SG Highway – a treacherous track, where work at under-construction bridges goes on at a snail’s pace, leads to severe road congestion, especially during peak hours.
The road is dotted with craters and uneven patches at several places. Manoeuvering through the potholes during peak traffic is an even bigger challenge when it rains and the depth of the ditch is not visible. Plus, there is a curtain of water falling from under-construction overbridges to deal with. While the new bridges have roads that can be traversed, the old ones like those at Sola, Gota and Khodiyar are almost risky to use.
At Vaishnodevi Circle, heavy duty trucks join the traffic and thwart any attempt to recover time lost in jams experienced earlier on the stretch from Sarkhej. A 35-40 minute journey turns into an hour of arduous and frustrating time. The SG Highway falls under the purview of National Highway Authority of India. However, the concerned NHAI official was not available for comment.
