GROUNDWORK: Piling work in progress for the construction of the Kottara Chowki flyover on National Highway 17 in Mangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: R. Eswarraj

MANGALORE: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is constructing seven flyovers as part of a project to make the stretch from Surathkal on National Highway 17 to B.C. Road on National Highway 48 four-lane. It is expected to complete the construction of three flyovers in the next six months, according to a senior NHAI official.

Flyovers at Kottara Chowki, Maroli, and B.C. Road are expected to be ready in six months. Project Director, NHAI, Mangalore, Prashanth N. Gawasane told The Hindu that work on pilings for the three flyovers was going on.

He said 69 of the 96 pilings for the Kottara Chowki flyover had been concreted. Each piling was of a diameter of 1.2 metres. Twelve of the 32 pilings for the Maroli flyover had been concreted. Similarly, of the 80 pilings for the B.C. Road flyover, 10 had been concreted. The depth of piling varied for each flyover from 19 to 20 metres at Kottara Chowki to 22 to 25 metres at Maroli.

Mr. Gawasane said that the flyovers were being built according to the standards of the Indian Road Congress (IRC), and multi-axle vehicles would be able to ply on them.

He said that people would be able to witness the progress of the flyover work only after the pilings and pillars were in place.

The other flyovers are being built at Surathkal, Kulur, Kuntikana and Nanthoor.

Except for the Kuntikana flyover, which will be two-way, the others will be one-way. On the Kottara Chowki flyover, vehicles will be allowed to ply from the Nanthoor side to Udupi. There will be no restriction on the traffic flow below the flyover. For example, vehicles coming from the city will be able to take a right turn towards Kuntikana or a left turn towards Kodical. Similarly, vehicles coming from Udupi can enter the city here.

On the Surathkal and Kulur flyovers, traffic will be allowed to move from the Udupi side towards Mangalore. On the Nanthoor flyover, vehicles will be allowed to ply from Moodbidri and B.C. Road towards Udupi. Traffic from Mangalore will pass over the Maroli flyover towards B.C. Road. Vehicles coming from the Bangalore side will be able to ply towards the Mangalore side on the B.C. Road flyover.

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