Karnataka - Bijapur   

Construction work on Korthi-Kolhar bridge drags on and on

Suresh Bhat

The project is incomplete two years after the deadline

BIJAPUR: If everything had gone according to plan, the 3-km-long Korthi-Kolhar bridge on National Highway 218 should have been thrown open to traffic in December 2003. However, the Rs. 40-crore project is incomplete even two years after the deadline.

Even the revised schedule for completion of the project expired last month. The bridge with 75 spans of 40 m each, once completed, will be the second longest bridge in India after the 5-km-long Mahatma Gandhi Setu across the Ganga near Patna in Bihar.

The construction of the bridge was taken up as part of the rehabilitation work of the Upper Krishna Project by Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd. (KBJNL), as the existing bridge got submerged in the Alamatti backwaters.

Bottleneck

The deck-slab casting is over except for a small patch of 40 m at the 11th span that has become a major bottleneck. It is now clear that bridge is unlikely to be available for use before April 2006. It was during April 2003 that a 100-tonne girder slipped from a crane and fell on a girder of the 11th span. The girder was bent slightly but was straightened after the other girder was removed. However, engineers feared that it might have weakened it and referred the matter to higher authorities, who in turn, sought technical opinion from RITES of the Indian Railways that designed the bridge. It was expected to give its opinion after a detailed field investigation, but it recommended replacement of the girder. The issue was referred to the technical subcommittee of Irrigation Department, and after much dilly-dallying, it also favoured replacement of the girder.

According to a senior engineer, no concrete test has hitherto been conducted to ascertain whether the girder has really been weakened. Even if that is the case, replacement is not necessary and it can be strengthened by retro-filling method, a modern civil engineering technique. Experts from a Bangalore-based concrete forensic laboratory, who inspected the site, opined that it can be strengthened. Besides, the contracting agency has requested the KBJNL to put the girder to load test, and go for replacement only it fails to take required load.

Risk

Replacement also runs a risk of causing damage to other girders in the span, as the inter-linking cement concreting has to be broken open. In that case all the six girders in the span may have to be replaced. More than the cost involved, the 250-tonne auto-launcher (flat crane that needs a rail-track to move), which is now parked at other end of the bridge, 2.6-km from the 11th span, has to be brought back to lift the girder. For the movement of auto-launcher a four-line rail-track has to be re-laid. While the replacement process may take at least nine months, reinforcement of the girder can be done in three months. However, the decision has to be taken at the Government level, the engineer added.

Everybody is keen to see that the bridge is opened to traffic, as it will help reduce the distance between Bijapur and Hubli by 25 km and is essential to make the National Highway 218 operational.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Construction work on Korthi-Kolhar bridge drags on and on

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu