Crossword Genius

Rising sickness in parts of the road (3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

the bends

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'rising sickness' is the definition.
'the bends' can be an answer for 'sickness' (I've seen this before). I'm not sure about the 'rising' bit.

'parts of the road' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'parts' could be 'bends' (bend is a kind of part) and 'bends' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'he' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for the bends that I've seen before include "Diver's ailment" , "A risk for divers" , "Diver's sickness; Radiohead album" , "Problem for divers" , "suffering when going under?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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