The Hindu : Front Page : Punjagutta flyover to open soon

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Friday, Jun 06, 2008
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Punjagutta flyover to open soon

Greenlands flyover: portion over railway line to be ready in three months

HYDERABAD: Having thrown open the second part of the Greenlands flyover on Thursday, the GHMC is now aiming to get the main Punjagutta flyover too ready within a fortnight.

A critical component of Punjagutta flyover work, i.e. near the M. Chenna Reddy statue was completed on Thursday noon. Work on the ‘Y’ junction began on Wednesday night and went on till noon on Thursday without break with 75 concrete mixers supplying the cement gravel.

“We used about 1,200 tonnes of cement and 80 tonnes of steel for the slab which forms the 42nd span. It had to be done on site unlike rest of the flyover where 41 spans were fixed with girders made in Miyapur yard. It can take vehicular weight of up to 2,000 tonnes,” said Additional Commissioner (Traffic & Transportation) N.V.S. Reddy.

Obstacles

Mr. Reddy took presspersons to the flyover sites to explain the progress of work and various obstacles faced in construction. The height of an overhead high tension cable had to be increased but before that, the only option was to take it underground which would have cost Rs. 2-3 crore.

Luckily, a private contractor offered to put up a higher power line at a cost of Rs. 26 lakh. A hitherto unknown yet live underground drinking water pipeline too was found under the other down ramp (towards Jubilee Hills side) and it needed extensive study before ‘embedding’ it. “Crash barriers and curing of slab will need 15 days after which we plan to open,” he said.

About Greenlands, he reiterated that the 90-metre portion over the railway line would be built in the next three months. “Usually, railways build any structure passing above their line but since it would take time we sought their permission which came 10 days ago. They did extensive study before approving our design,” he said.

Construction of both flyovers began more than two years ago. The GHMC also had issues with religious structures on the path as also a HT line.

Circumventing all this, it built 40 piers and has three more piers left to open the full-fledged six-lane carriageway with the present median shifted.

The official also appreciated the services rendered by his engineers – Rajeshwar, Naik and Venkatramana, towards the projects.

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