New Barfiwala flyover already pockmarked

Even after chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar expressed their displeasure over potholes on newly-built flyovers, they continue to disfigure the stretches. After the pockmarked Lalbaug flyover, now a potholed Barfiwala flyover in Andheri, which was inaugurated just last month, have done little for the image of the city's infrastructure.
Every evening, Vaijayanti Prakash, a resident of Juhu, takes 30 minutes to reach her residence from the Western Express Highway, despite the new Barfiwala flyover. In the morning, she takes 42 minutes to reach Andheri station. "Whether I take the flyover or not, my travel problems continue to haunt me. Besides traffic signals and diversions due to construction, the recent pockmarks on and below the flyover have brought Andheri's traffic back to square one," she says.
MSRDC officials said that they have not put the final layer of asphalt on the flyover as it was inaugurated during the monsoon to ease traffic movement. "We are just doing the temporary patchup work. The final mastic asphalt will be in place by October ," said an MSRDC official . Though they fill up these potholes, but resurface every time it rains heavily, the official said.
Amitabh Akotkar, a resident of Andheri, wonders why the flyover was opened to the public if it cannot ease traffic snarls. "Forget the flyover , even the road below, which is in BMC's jurisdiction , is so bad that traffic gets virtually stalled."
Interestingly, the flyover was inaugurated by Chavan and Pawar. At the ceremony, both came down heavily on officials and engineers for the shoddy job on the Lalbaug flyover . This, even after the delay in its commissioning.
Officials, who are involved in the construction and traffic management for the flyover , said traffic may be diverted to one of the exits under the flyover for the next five to six months, till the other arm is opened. This means, the chaos will continue till the new year.
"Just a month of rain is enough to make potholes appear on young flyovers. Why just potholes, I believe that even the layers below the mastic asphalt could break," said Rushikesh Amin of Seven Bungalows.
Meanwhile, Kamal Gupta, executive director, J Kumar Infraprojects, said, "The flyover has been opened during the monsoon without the final asphalt treatment. This has been done to ease traffic movement and ensure early construction of the remaining half of the flyover." Gupta said that there are no potholes on the bridge currently , although there are certain minor ones at either ends of it. "We are monitoring the stretch and filling up potholes every time they resurface due to the heavy rains. The final layer of the mastic asphalt after monsoon will fix the problem permanently."