Officials say crack could have become a pothole

Within 25 days of the Bandra Worli Sea Link opening for public use, depressions have already appeared on its surface.

The depressions are barely 50 metres from the Worli end of the landmark sea link. A traffic constable on duty said, "There was a bad patch of 1.5x 2 ft at the Worli end. The repair work was done immediately."

MiD DAY on May 10 had reported that BWSL might witness potholes this monsoon because of the use of normal asphalt instead of bitumen.u00a0

While the contractors who made the bridge claimed that the depression was only superfluous and cannot be defined as a pothole, police officials who saw it being tarred on Friday say otherwise.

An official from the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), the agency that has constructed the sea link, said, "A crack has appeared. If the crack is not rectified then it gets damaged further and becomes a pothole.

Nothing to be surprised about

Vivek Ghanekar, the superintending engineer, BWSL said, "There is nothing to be surprised about. If there is any bad patch on the BWSL, HCC will repair it. Asphalting work on that stretch was done after May 10."

The 5.6 km road of BWSL has a 52mm wearing thickness made of 12mm thick mastic asphalt and 40mm thick bituminous concrete on top. Below the wearing surface is the concrete deck.u00a0

Another senior official from MSRDC said, "We can't call it a pothole, but a potential pothole. This is due to the vehicles applying brakes because of the diversion at the junction. There was a rough surface which the HCC has repaired."