‘Mineral asphalto seal pad’ to ease flyover repair

Now, the BBMP has adopted a new method — ‘mineral asphalto seal pad’ — to repair the Sirsi Circle flyover.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, during an inspection on Tuesday, said there were a lot of complaints from commuters regarding the poor condition of the road, and hence the civic body officials had to take up the work immediately.

According to Parameshwara, the new method has been adopted by the BBMP to ease the process of asphalting. “We are resurfacing the road with ‘mineral asphalto seal pad’. This will not only prevent potholes, but, also stop the stagnation of water,” he said.

Manjunath M, technical head and contractor of the project, representing Sai Trisha Infra Engineers Private Limited, said they have to mill and remove the existing bituminous asphalt layer or the top layer of the road, and then lay the seal pad. “A 3-mm thick asphalto seal pad will be laid after the milling process and an oil base primer will be applied above it to help in drying. Once it is flamed and rolled, the water-proof membrane will last for a long time,” said Manjunath.

One of the major benefits of this method is the easy process and reduced time, said KT Nagaraj, chief engineer, road infrastructure, (projects), BBMP. “This method will not allow water to percolate on the asphalt, and hence it prevents the formation of potholes on the road,” he said.

Speaking about the duration of the project, Nagaraj said the contractors will complete the work on one side of the road, i.e from Town Hall towards Mysuru Road by the end of this month, and the other side of the road will be completed during the next month.

A similar method was used in Richmond circle flyover two years ago, said Nagaraj.

The previous contractor, Aretry Infra Projects was fined Rs 11.5 lakh by the BBMP for not maintaining the road properly during the defect liability period. A lot of potholes had appeared on the road post September 2017 rains, following which a complaint was registered at the Lokayukta.