Re-laying is done only between 11.30 pm and 5 am Photo: Special arrangement
The highways department has asked the contractors to expedite the re-laying of the cold-milled roads.
Presently, the top layer is being removed and re-laid on Poonamallee High Road and Anna Salai. The direction was given after the contractors did not repaint some stretches of roads for over a week, causing inconvenience to motorists.
S Anuja, a resident of Choolaimedu, said she had been using the Poonamallee High Road for a week now and has found a frontage from a nearby mall. “I was scared to ride my two-wheeler as I felt I might lose control and fall off, especially since we keep reading about such incidents,” she said.
“The depth to which it is scraped varies from place to place and depends on the strength of the road. When the top layer is worn away, it is laid again and cold pressed to ensure that The milling is done so that the height of the road does not come down.”The chief secretary had directed us to ensure cold-milling,” said an official.
The work is being done partly due to the fact that the roads are wide due to surface renovation and since they have been damaged during the monsoons and have been repaired. The work is done only during the night between 11.30 pm and 5 am, and the equipment covers a distance of about 500 meters per night as the road is three to four lanes wide. Presently, about 2 km long road is being re-laid on Poonamallee High Road.
On Anna Salai, re-laying 1,600 meters at Teynampet costs ₹2 crore, and for 1,600 meters on GST Road from Chromepet Government Hospital to MEPZ, the cost is ₹2 crore. Re-laying a distance of 4 km near Aminjikarai, on the Poonamallee High Road, cost ₹4 crore. The machinery can mill 2,000 sq.m per day and re-lay 3,000-4,000 sq.m per day.