Being in Bilaspur has given me some perspective on US road projects like the Big Dig. India is capable of pulling off giant engineering projects. They just opened the Sea Bridge in Bombay. They have built nuclear weapons and enormous dams that. But in Bilaspur, they can't build a simple bridge or pave a road.
I spent half an hour this morning waiting at a level crossing, where the road crosses the railroad tracks. We sat for most of this time with no train coming. I was not able to get a definitive answer as to why the gate was down for so long with no train coming, but the consensus was that people lack the discipline to obey the gate, so they put it down as soon as the train is scheduled to leave the station. This discussion of the lack of discipline was accompanied by a demonstration; as we waited, vehicles filled the lane for oncoming traffic and setting up the inevitable traffic jam when the gate went up.
This scene unfolded in the shadow of the flyover they are building next to the road. This has been under construction for over four years. In the 9 months I have been here, there appears to have been no progress. The two sides of the bridge do not line up properly, and the building stones on the side of the ramps are bulging outward from the pressure of the earth they are holding back. The structure does not appear to be engineered to withstand the monsoon, and even when complete, I don't think I would want to travel across it.
Another project being undertaken in the neighborhoods is hooking up a sewer pipe. Even in our middle class neighborhood there is currently no sewer connection, only open gutters (gross). They are putting in the pipes, but not connecting the houses at this time. So they are digging up the road to put in the pipe, and just pushing the dirt back because they don't want to patch thing up properly, as they will be dug up again when they connect the houses. The result is that for kilometers in any direction, the roads are terrible. There is a paved strip the size of a sidewalk down the middle, and the rest is dirt than gets torn up when it is wet, and then hardens like wavy concrete when it is dry and sunny, making a bumpy ride for any type of vehicle.
I spent half an hour this morning waiting at a level crossing, where the road crosses the railroad tracks. We sat for most of this time with no train coming. I was not able to get a definitive answer as to why the gate was down for so long with no train coming, but the consensus was that people lack the discipline to obey the gate, so they put it down as soon as the train is scheduled to leave the station. This discussion of the lack of discipline was accompanied by a demonstration; as we waited, vehicles filled the lane for oncoming traffic and setting up the inevitable traffic jam when the gate went up.
This scene unfolded in the shadow of the flyover they are building next to the road. This has been under construction for over four years. In the 9 months I have been here, there appears to have been no progress. The two sides of the bridge do not line up properly, and the building stones on the side of the ramps are bulging outward from the pressure of the earth they are holding back. The structure does not appear to be engineered to withstand the monsoon, and even when complete, I don't think I would want to travel across it.
Another project being undertaken in the neighborhoods is hooking up a sewer pipe. Even in our middle class neighborhood there is currently no sewer connection, only open gutters (gross). They are putting in the pipes, but not connecting the houses at this time. So they are digging up the road to put in the pipe, and just pushing the dirt back because they don't want to patch thing up properly, as they will be dug up again when they connect the houses. The result is that for kilometers in any direction, the roads are terrible. There is a paved strip the size of a sidewalk down the middle, and the rest is dirt than gets torn up when it is wet, and then hardens like wavy concrete when it is dry and sunny, making a bumpy ride for any type of vehicle.
