Shiradi Ghat is still motorists’ nightmare

The Shiradi Ghat road is back in good condition after being un-motorable for more than three years. There are no potholes, no craters and no mounds of mud in the middle of the road. But, it has now become more dangerous than ever, going by the number of accidents that have taken place over the past few days.

In the last 15 days, 21 vehicles have met with accidents in the stretch between Marenahalli and Gundia (NH-48). On Wednesday alone, six trucks carrying goods on this stretch between Mangalore and Bangalore met with accidents. The stretch is full of mangled remains of trucks and goods spilled from the vehicles.

“I have never seen such piles of mangled bodies of trucks before,” Keshavnath, an official of the transport department who visited the accident sites to certify insurance claims, said. “Going by the nature of the accidents, I suppose they were due to drivers dozing off on the wheels.”

The traffic between Bangalore and Mangalore on the National Highway 48 is quite dense — 10,000 passenger car units (each unit is equivalent to five passenger car loads), according to statistics available with the transport department. This could be compared with the busy Eastern Express Highway between Mumbai and Pune, transport officials said.

Transport department surveys point out that about 50% of the vehicles that get into Tumkur road from Bangalore go towards Mangalore after turning at Nelamangala. During school vacation, Bangalore generates over 7,000 units per day, clogging the stretch in Shiradi Ghat. But due to the dense movement of heavy traffic vehicles (HTVs) like timber trucks, LPG bullet tankers, mining lorries, and heavy machinery carriers, passenger cars lose hours and try to make up lost time by speeding in the ghat sections. This creates danger for both HTVs and cars.

“The Shiradi stretch should ideally be a six-lane highway, considering the volume of traffic,” said an official of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is responsible for maintaining highways. “But it has only two lanes, and this results in accidents. The NHAI had in 2008 proposed the widening of the stretch, but the government is yet to clear it,” the official said.

“The idea is to extend the highway being laid between Mukka, near Mangalore, and Buntwal Cross Road to Sakleshpura,” the official said.