Filed Under · Unofficial
Roads Reimagined
Surfaces that renegotiate their shape with every monsoon. Potholes deep enough to have their own microclimate.
Ranked by Notoriety
Browse all 50 entries
Thiruvanmiyur–Uthandi ECR Elevated Corridor Suspension
A planned four-lane elevated corridor along ECR between Thiruvanmiyur and Uthandi, awarded via a Hybrid Annuity Mode concession to KNR Mahabalipuram Infra Private Limited in February 2026, was put on hold pending review by a technical committee after being conspicuously omitted from Tamil Nadu's 2026-27 Highways policy note. A rival bidder had also filed a procurement challenge in the Madras High Court.
Kanteerava Studio Underpass
The BDA resumed construction of the roughly ₹40-crore Kanteerava Studio underpass connecting Peenya and Nandini Layout in December 2025, a full decade after the project first stalled, leaving commuters to navigate a half-built underpass for ten years.
Mumbai Coastal Road (Phase 1)
Mumbai's flagship coastal road, meant to be completed in 4 years from contract award, took over 6 years and multiple phased openings before full completion, with costs escalating by over ₹1,243 crore due to BMC-attributed delays including a mid-project change in pillar design. BMC penalised the contractor ₹14 crore for the delays even as it publicized claimed benefits like a "70% reduction in travel time."
Kollam NH-66 Embankment/Service-Road Collapse
On December 5, 2025, a sidewall embankment on an under-construction elevated NH-66 stretch collapsed during soil-filling work, opening craters that trapped vehicles including a school bus (all evacuated safely), the second such embankment failure on this corridor within six months.
Tonk Road Sinkhole and Citywide Trench Hazards From Gas Pipeline Work
A portion of Tonk Road collapsed into a roughly 20-foot-deep sinkhole in July 2026, one of several similar failures across the city caused by inadequately filled trenches dug for the Torrent Gas pipeline project. Rainfall repeatedly washed away the loose fill material used to close these trenches, exposing dangerous gaps and forcing repeated emergency repairs across multiple neighborhoods.
Aligarh's "Smart Road" Falls Apart Within Three Years
Aligarh's flagship Smart City "smart road" began falling apart within three years: streetlights broken or dark at night, and CCTV wiring/camera units near the Police Control Room and Lal Diggi crossing damaged.
Ahmedabad Metro Pillar Road Cave-In
A road built only about a month earlier near Metro Rail Pillar No. 129 in Ahmedabad caved in after heavy monsoon rain, reportedly the 30th such cave-in in the city that season, forcing partial lane closure while a BRT lane was opened to ease peak-hour congestion.
Smart City Road Repeatedly Caves In Near Bareilly College
A road built under Bareilly's Smart City project caved in near Bareilly College, creating a large pothole, the second collapse recorded at this exact location, exposing weak sewer infrastructure beneath the surface work.
Ludhiana Southern Bypass
The four-laning of the Ludhiana Southern Bypass was tendered in 2010 with a two-year deadline but wasn't completed until 2019 after officials failed to complete inter-department formalities before the tender was allotted; poor PWD-Irrigation Department coordination drove repeated design changes.
Bhubaneswar-Puri Road Cave-Ins
On August 2, 2026, a section of the Garage Square-Ravi Talkies road in Bhubaneswar suddenly caved in, leaving a 5-6-foot-deep crater that a motorcyclist narrowly escaped, while the same day the ₹22-crore, 10-km Balanga-Haripur road near Deuli village in Puri collapsed under a sand-laden truck, overturning it.
Panathur Underpass
The Panathur underpass in east Bengaluru flooded yet again after overnight rain in September 2026, despite recent road-widening and upgrade work, because side-drain work was left incomplete and roadside drains remain open, leaving vehicle-movement infrastructure without the drainage needed to function during heavy rain.
Tellapur Underpass: Chronic Flooding
The Tellapur underpass becomes severely waterlogged after every heavy rainfall due to the absence of an effective drainage system with no proper outlet for rainwater, causing traffic standstills lasting hours. Vehicles become stranded and the State Disaster Response Force has had to be deployed to pump water and manage congestion.
Parimal Underpass: Cracked Walls and Recurring Flooding
An August 2024 AMC bridge-audit inspection found cracks in the walls of this heavily used underpass, one of dozens of structures citywide flagged as defective. Weeks later, after about 3.5 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, the underpass flooded and trapped a 25-passenger inter-city bus overnight, requiring rescuers to pull passengers out through the windows using ropes.
Srinagar Smart City Drainage Failure
Despite ₹792 crore spent under the Smart City project, major roads, hospitals and residential areas continue to flood after just hours of rain, most recently in July 2026 when dozens of neighbourhoods were submerged; SMC identified ~60 waterlogging hotspots citywide.
Smart City Area-Based Development roads (57 roads cancelled)
Of 197 roads (43km) planned for modernisation (with footpaths, utility conduits, stormwater lines and smart bus stops) under Nashik's Smart City Area-Based Development plan, 57 roads covering 11km were formally cancelled by the Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation board after facing repeated delays.
Mirza Ismail (MI) Road 12-Foot Crater After Monsoon Rain
A massive, roughly 12-foot-deep crater suddenly opened up on MI Road, one of the city's busiest streets, after continuous heavy rains, forcing emergency barricading and repair. It was widely shared on video as an example of the poor state of Jaipur's road infrastructure under monsoon stress.
Araria-Narpatganj NH-27 Collapse
Half of the Araria-Narpatganj stretch of NH-27 (part of a highway that runs from Silchar, Assam to Porbandar, Gujarat) collapsed on a Saturday night during heavy rainfall, causing an overloaded truck to overturn into a roadside ditch. One lane was shut for repairs afterward.
BCT Road RCC Culvert Failure
An RCC culvert on the BCT Road failed under continuous heavy rainfall in August 2026, causing road inundation and forcing the District Magistrate to shut the stretch to all but emergency vehicles under the Disaster Management Act.
Jhansi Road Cave-In
A section of Gwalior's busy Jhansi Road, where construction had already dragged on for about 1.5 years without finishing, caved into a 10-foot-deep crater after roughly two hours of heavy rain, trapping a passing car whose occupants escaped unhurt.
Jaipur Ring Road: A Quarter-Century of Delays and Stalled Control
First conceived in 2000, actual construction on Jaipur's Ring Road only began in 2011, and the original contractor's deal was terminated in 2016 for lack of progress; a new contractor finished only a partial 27km stretch by 2019, still missing toll infrastructure, cloverleaves, electricity and traffic signals years later. A newly announced Northern Ring Road (100km, ₹3,000 crore) remains stuck at the land-acquisition stage across 150+ villages as of 2025, with the JDA now formally seeking to strip NHAI of control over the project, citing its slow progress.
Major Arterial Road, Kadabagere
A newly built ₹500-crore stretch of Bengaluru's Major Arterial Road near Kadabagere developed multiple large sinkholes across a 20-metre stretch just days before its scheduled inauguration on June 27, 2026. A viral video showed gaping craters on the still-uninaugurated road, which remained under contractor control and had not yet been formally handed over to the BDA.
Recurring monsoon waterlogging of underpasses
Despite over a decade of drainage and flood-mitigation spending, Gurugram's underpasses and major roads flood every monsoon, submerging vehicles and paralysing traffic citywide.
NH-66 Kooriyad Embankment and Retaining Wall Collapse
A section of NH-66 under construction at Kooriyad collapsed on May 19, 2025 when the foundation soil failed under a high embankment load; the retaining wall collapsed again days later. NHAI suspended its project director, terminated the site engineer, debarred contractor KNR Constructions for up to a year, and fined it ₹20 lakh.
Sidhi ₹104-Crore Road Washed Away in First Monsoon
A road built at a cost of ₹104 crore in Sidhi district was largely washed away by the very first heavy rainfall spell just six months after construction, with a major section of the Khaira-Dithoura route swept out by strong water flow and the Bhawarsen Pahad route blocked by falling soil and rocks.
Hindon Elevated Road: Pillar Erosion & Murky Maintenance Takeover
India's longest six-lane elevated road at the time it opened saw soil erode around pillar No. 187 within months of opening. In 2022 the municipal corporation abruptly took over maintenance and advertising rights without prior board approval, raising concerns about hidden costs.
Dharamshala Smart City Drainage
Despite hundreds of crores spent rebuilding roads/drains under the Smart City Mission, Dharamshala's new covered drainage is too narrow, incorrectly sloped and cable-obstructed, causing uncontrolled rainwater flow every monsoon, replacing older open drains that handled both drainage and irrigation.
Gaganpahad Underpass
The underpass floods with knee-deep water during rains because of a breached retaining wall between a nearby lake and an industrial area, with no proper drainage outlet. Despite multiple resident complaints, only cosmetic civic work (painting) has been done; the structural breach itself remains unrepaired.
NH-44 Hosur Road, Attibele
A section of the busy Bengaluru-Hosur stretch of National Highway 44 near Attibele caved in on February 4, 2026, opening a large crater in the carriageway and crippling traffic on one of the city's key routes toward Tamil Nadu. The collapse forced long detours and hours of gridlock on the Bengaluru-Hosur corridor.
Ganesapuram Subway: 32-Month Closure
The Ganesapuram subway, a key link for several North Chennai neighbourhoods, was closed in January 2023 for construction of a road overbridge and stayed shut for roughly 32 months before Greater Chennai Corporation announced its reopening. Residents expressed concern that new pumping arrangements to prevent monsoon flooding were only a short-term fix rather than a permanent storm-water drainage solution.
Purvanchal Expressway: Road Caves In 11 Months After Inauguration
Less than a year after PM inauguration, the October 2022 monsoon caused wide stretches of the flagship expressway to cave in, with potholes up to 15 feet deep, triggering accidents and vehicle damage across multiple sections.
Jalandhar "Smart" Road Collapse
A road connecting Workshop Chowk to the DAV College flyover in Jalandhar, built at a cost of ₹10 crore, collapsed just 10 months after completion. Objections about the construction had reportedly been raised earlier by officials but were dismissed by the engineers who built it.
Indore BRTS ("iBus" corridor)
Indore's flagship Bus Rapid Transit corridor, once held up nationally as a model project, was ordered dismantled by the Madhya Pradesh High Court after years of complaints that it worsened congestion for other traffic.
Korattur Railway Station Subway
An 800-metre, 30-foot-wide two-way subway with LED lighting and storm-water drains near Korattur railway station was cleared in 2010 and began construction in 2013, but remained unfinished six years later in 2019 against an expected mid-2020 completion. A local resident noted the Railways had finished their portion of the work, but the Highways Department's portion continued to lag.
Richmond Town Potholes
A 43-year-old Richmond Town resident sent BBMP a legal notice in May 2025 demanding ₹50 lakh in compensation after sustaining repeated neck and back injuries from jolts caused by deep potholes and uneven road surfaces on her daily commute, backed by five orthopaedic visits and four emergency-room admissions.
Berhampur Ring Road
Then-CM Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for this ring road in 2013, but land acquisition failures and NHAI non-cooperation meant actual construction of even phase 1 did not begin until November 2021, eight years later.
Jind Devi Lal Chowk Road Cave-In
A newly constructed road patch near Devi Lal Chowk in Jind town caved in during rainfall, the latest in a pattern of repeated washing-away and sinking of new roads in the town that residents say points to systemic quality failures rather than one-off bad luck.
Kakinada–Rajanagaram Road Widening (ADB)
A four-laning upgrade of a single-lane, 1997-built ADB-funded road was meant to widen ~30km within three years, but multiple stretches remain incomplete years past deadline, leaving dangerous half-finished sections that cause accidents.
Noida's ₹500-Crore Elevated Road Left to Rot Amid Contractor Dispute
Noida's 4.8km elevated road suffered surface damage after monsoon rains; the contractor, contractually responsible for upkeep, refused to resurface it citing an unresolved financial dispute with the Noida Authority, forcing the Authority to repair it itself amid an internal probe.
Delhi BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) corridor
Delhi's first Bus Rapid Transit corridor was blamed for worsening congestion for private vehicles and was dismantled by the Delhi government in 2016 after years of controversy, PILs, and court battles.
Parwanoo–Solan NH-5 Four-Laning Cost Overrun & Flyover Collapse
The four-laning of a 39km NH-5 stretch, awarded with a 30-month deadline, took over five years to substantially finish and required extensive extra slope-stabilisation after the original design proved inadequate. In August 2022, a large flyover portion on this same stretch collapsed during heavy rain near Solan.
Samruddhi Mahamarg Expressway: Potholes Weeks After Final Stretch Opened
Barely three weeks after the final 76-km Igatpuri-Amane stretch of the Samruddhi Mahamarg (Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg) opened on June 5, 2025, its asphalt surface came off at seven locations following heavy rain, with videos of the potholes going viral and drawing mockery aimed at the highways ministry.
Bundelkhand Expressway: Cave-In Days After PM Inauguration
The 296-km Bundelkhand Expressway, inaugurated by PM Modi on July 16, 2022, developed one-and-a-half-foot-deep potholes and caved in at Chiriya Salempur just five days later after rain, damaging two cars and a motorcycle. Opposition leaders, including BJP MP Varun Gandhi, demanded strict action over the construction quality of the flagship project.
Delhi-Dehradun Expressway: Cave-In Near Shamli
Large potholes and a road cave-in appeared on the newly inaugurated Delhi-Dehradun Expressway near Hathi Karoda village in Shamli district after monsoon rain, damaging vehicles and raising fresh questions about the quality of one of India's costliest expressway projects, inaugurated on April 14, 2026.
Mangaluru NH-66: Potholes Return 10 Days After VIP Resurfacing
Roads on NH-66 between New Mangalore Port and Kuloor were freshly asphalted about 10 days ahead of a visit by PM Modi in early September 2022, only for potholes to reappear within roughly 10 days of his departure, drawing public ridicule over the durability of hastily patched-up "VIP visit" road work.
JLN Marg Elevated Road Plan Scrapped Over Aesthetics
An elevated road planned along JLN Marg, already included in the state budget, was shelved after Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma raised aesthetic concerns about the corridor's appearance during a review meeting. The JDA has since pivoted to planning an alternative elevated road along Tonk Road instead, which would require removing the existing older flyovers at Gopalpura and Durgapura crossings.
White-Topped Road, HBR Layout
A freshly white-topped 200-metre stretch in HBR Layout's 5th Block deteriorated rapidly soon after completion, with residents citing garage and garbage encroachments, mosquito breeding from poor drainage, missing footpaths, and unfinished stormwater drains that raise fears of monsoon flooding.
Lucknow–Kanpur Expressway Cracks Days After Inauguration
Roughly two weeks after its high-profile inauguration, the expressway's upper asphalt surface caved/cracked over a stretch of about 40 metres; viral photos later showed pedestal fans deployed on the road to dry out rain-soaked patchwork repairs, drawing sharp political criticism.
Commercial Street "Smart City" Makeover
Commercial Street was redone under the Smart Cities Mission's TenderSURE guidelines and inaugurated with fanfare in July 2021, but within hours rainwater could not drain and flooded neighbouring shops; within a week the street "wore its usual haggard look." Years later, pavements were still being dug up and the footpaths and carriageway redone.
Bhopal BRTS Corridor
The dedicated 24km bus corridor launched in 2013 recorded 121 accidents and 21 fatalities between 2016-2018, worsened congestion in adjoining lanes despite its own underuse, and hurt local businesses; years of pressure eventually led authorities to plan dismantling stretches.
Jaipur Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS): Abandoned and Dismantled
Jaipur's flagship BRTS, funded substantially by JNNURM, never delivered the 300 buses promised and built only two corridors: Sikar Road, chaotically designed with 11 junctions packed into 8km, and New Sanganer Road, which was "not operational at all." It recorded the lowest ridership of any Indian BRTS city, its median dedicated-lane design proved fatal for pedestrians, and its barricades were eventually ordered dismantled across the city.