Work on two-lane bridge across Koraiyar to be expedited.

Construction of the new two-lane bridge across the Koraiyar on the city stretch of the Tiruchi-Dindigul Highway would begin in full swing soon, sources in the Highways Department have said.

Though the foundation stone was laid for the bridge in March, preliminary works are still under way. The bridge was sanctioned after the city stretch of the highway was widened last year between Ponnagar and Kallikudi from where the national highway (NH 45) has been widened to a four-lane road by the National Highways Authority of India.

The existing two lane bridge, across the river, was too narrow to accommodate the increasing traffic. The bridge was to be built alongside the existing narrow bridge.

The new bridge with a width of 7.50 metres would cater to traffic on one direction and the existing bridge would be retained for traffic on the other direction. The new bridge would run for 105 metres and is intended to remove the bottleneck at the narrow bridge across the river near Dheeran Nagar.

In March, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa laid the foundation stone through video conference for the bridge, sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 4.90 crore, under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP). This was one of the 129 works to be taken up under the CRIDP during 2015-16.

But after the initial ground clearing works, there has been a long lull in the work. The construction of the bridge had become essential as a large number of residential colonies and educational institutions have come up along the highway in recent years leading to a sharp increase in vehicular traffic.

When contacted, an officer in the Highways Department said that load test was currently under way on the piles and the work would begin in full swing once the process was completed.

THE HINDU