In an effort to tackle the city’s pothole menace, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is adopting an old method of road construction.
The BBMP will now lay rubber mats under asphalted roads, and one of the areas where the BBMP has implemented this is the Madiwala underpass.
The contractor in-charge of constructing the road, Stalin, told TNM that the before pouring asphalt, rubber mats are laid on the road.
“The rubber mats ensure that water does not percolate and loosen the asphalt. Hence, the tar will stay intact, even when it rains heavily. The asphalt that is poured is also waterproof, and ensures that too much moisture does not get absorbed into the tar and loosen it. This will stop pothole formation,” Stalin said.
Rubber mats being laid on Madiwala underpass
Stalin added that the new road is weather-proof and smoother than normal ones, and will have a shelf life of five years.
“The ride is smoother as the vibrations caused by normal bituminous roads are suppressed by the rubber mat,” he said.
BBMP Chief Engineer KT Nagaraj said that the rubber mats were brought in from Mumbai, and the Palike is planning to use this technology while laying roads in the city.
“All future roads will be laid with rubber mats. They have used this method in New Delhi and Mumbai also,” Nagaraj said.
However, Traffic Expert MN Shreehari said that the technology is not new and the BBMP could have implemented it years ago.
“People have moved on from laying rubber mats to constructing roads made of recycled plastic. Laying rubber mats under roads is not the latest solution offered by the BBMP. Experts have suggested during several consultations it in the past. What were they doing for four-and-a-half years?” Shreehari questioned.
While he agreed that the rubber will ensure that the roads are not destroyed easily, Shreehari maintained that the biggest problem the city faces regarding roads is not the technology implemented to lay the roads, but the substandard quality of materials used to lay the roads.
“Look at the highways on the outskirts of the city. Why do they not have potholes? It rained as much in those areas as well. But only the city roads were damaged heavily. The BBMP may think of implementing new technology or ideas while laying roads, but all of that has failed every single time because the contractors end up using substandard materials to make money,” he said.