The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Bakery Junction opened to traffic

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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Bakery Junction opened to traffic

Staff Reporter

Work on the flyover is expected to be finished in March

– Photo: S. Mahinsha

No blocks: The traffic restrictions in place at the Bakery Junction since April 28 were lifted on Sunday following the completion of one span of the flyover being built in the area.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The arterial Bakery Junction road that was cordoned off on April 28 to facilitate the construction of a span of the flyover coming up in the area was thrown open to traffic on Sunday morning by Public Works Minister Mons Joseph.

Mayor C. Jayan Babu and V. Sivankutty, MLA, were among those who participated in the traffic restoration ceremony.

Traffic was restored on the road four days ahead of the 100-day schedule that the government had insisted on for the completion of the span. The flyover is being built under the City Roads Improvement Programme (CRIP).

The span that has been completed is 45 m long and 9 m above the ground. This unusually long span took that much more time to get constructed and also proved to be costly. The three-lane flyover which is expected to be finished by March 31, 2010 would be 12 m wide with an 11 m carriageway and a 0.5 m wide crash guard on either side.

According to a senior project official, the flyover is among the very few such structures in the State that are pre-stressed.

“This flyover also employs a box structure beneath the main bridge. This not only adds to the aesthetics but also prevents the structure from accumulating dirt. This flyover has been fashioned out of pure stainless steel strands that were given tension after being cast. This means that there is less of concrete but more of strength in the flyover,” the official said.

As per the initial plan this span was to have been built last. However, this would have necessitated the indefinite closure of the Bakery Junction-Reserve Bank-Panjappura road for a very long period.

Now, the section of the flyover on the Panjappura side would be constructed the last.

Work on the span was affected for two to three weeks in July as a number of skilled workers from Tamil Nadu went away to sea following the lifting of the trawling ban. “Otherwise we could have completed the span in 85 days flat,” the official claimed.

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