Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Ondipudur bridge to be opened on April 28

Staff Reporter

Trial run conducted in one portion

ASSURANCE TO MOTORISTS: A convoy led by Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy's vehicle gets a feel of the new flyover at Ondipudur in the city during a trial run on Saturday. - Photo: M. Periasamy

Coimbatore: A trial run was conducted in one portion of the railway overbridge at Ondipudur on Tiruchi Road here on Saturday. The authorities have planned to throw the bridge open for traffic on April 28.

Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Collector Neeraj Mittal, City Police Commissioner C.K. Gandhirajan and Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran took a drive on the bridge marking the trial run. After that, the bridge was closed for carrying out the remaining works. The trial run was aimed at reassuring the people that the works were in final stages, the officials said.

With the opening of the bridge, the motorists' wait on Tiruchi Road at the Ondipudur railway gate for hours will come to an end. As the road formed part of the National Highway 67 from Nagapattinam to Mysore via Coimbatore and Udhagamandalam, the traffic is usually heavy. The road also connects Coimbatore with Tirupur and various southern districts.

The work for constructing the rail overbridge was started in June 2003. Even after the State Highway authorities completing the work in mid-2005, the Southern Railway authorities took time to complete the construction of the span i.e., their share of work in the overbridge. The delay was attributed to contractual failures arising out of rise in the price of construction materials.

After a series of agitations by the residents besides various organisations such as Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam and also by MP, K. Subbarayan, the authorities exerted pressure on the new contractor for early completion of the works.

When the bridge was under construction traffic on either side was diverted via Irugur and Pattanam road and these small roads belonging to the local bodies struggled to accommodate the heavy traffic. As a result, the diversion routes are severely battered.

The Highways officials are giving finishing touches i.e., curing the concrete surface of the bridge besides completing the approach works.

The bridge constructed at Rs. 16.5 crore with four lanes is 17.3 m in width and 1,029 m in length and considered the longest and widest bridge in the region.

Thanking the authorities for completing the works, Ondipudur Bridge Affected Peoples Federation president P.K. Swaminathan urged them to instruct the local bodies to re-lay the battered stretches of the diversion routes besides the approach road for the bridge on either side. With the bridge getting ready for traffic, Coimbatoreans are waiting for a solution to the battered 7.2-km stretch of Tiruchi Road from Stock Exchange to Neelambur Bypass Road.

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