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Mangaluru Highway Decay: Commuters Face Travel Chaos
8 Nov
Summary
- State Highway 67 connecting Udupi and Mangaluru is severely damaged.
- Commute time from Bajpe to Mangaluru has doubled to 45 minutes.
- Patchwork repairs are insufficient; proper asphalting demanded.
Several sections of the Mangaluru-Athrady State Highway (SH-67), a vital link between Udupi and key destinations like Mangaluru International Airport and the Kateel temple, are severely degraded. This deterioration causes considerable hardship for daily commuters and travelers. Despite its importance for thousands of devotees and airport-bound passengers seeking to bypass traffic, the road remains in a deplorable state, with temporary repairs failing quickly.
Local residents report that the highway has not seen proper asphalting for three to four years. Stretches near the airport entrance, Bajpe Church, Kaikamba, and Adoor are particularly bad. Commute times have nearly doubled, now taking around 45 minutes from Bajpe to Mangaluru, impacting schoolchildren, employees, and emergency services. The lack of proper drainage exacerbates the problem.
An official from the Public Works Department stated that immediate patchwork repairs would commence after Deepavali, as bitumen plants have reopened. A proposal for these works has already been submitted.
