Andhra Pradesh   

Expansion of bridge across Godavari under study

BHADRACHALAM (Khammam Dist.): The need to widen the decades-old bridge over the Godavari at Bhadrachalam is being increasingly felt in the historical temple town to meet the ever-increasing traffic needs, particularly in view of the next Godavari Pushkaralu slated for 2015.

As the narrow bridge has been causing frequent traffic bottlenecks due to the multi-fold increase in the vehicular traffic, widening of the bridge has become inevitable to create more space for smooth movement of the vehicles with a long-term perspective.

Sources say that people from far off places used to take the river route and travel in boats from Burgumpadu to reach Bhadrachalam before the construction of the existing bridge in 1965.

The then government embarked on the construction of the bridge in 1962 in the aftermath of a major boat accident in the Godavari in which more than 200 people drowned midway.

The bridge was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 70 lakh by a Mumbai-based engineering company in a span of three years from 1962 to 65.

Former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan inaugurated the bridge and declared it open for traffic on July 13 in 1965.

The bridge emerged as the vital road link for the tribal areas in general and the temple town in particular.

Increase in traffic

The factors like congested road space of the narrow bridge and multi-fold increase in the vehicular traffic to the temple town have necessitated either expansion of the existing bridge or construction of a new bridge parallel to the present one over the Godavari.

Against this backdrop, the authorities of the famous Sri Seetharamachandra Swamy temple have been contemplating making a specific representation to the government through the elected representatives concerned for widening of the exiting bridge to prevent frequent traffic snarls.

When contacted, temple executive officer S.S. Chandrasekhar Azad says that there is an urgent need for expanding the narrow bridge to cope with the rapidly increasing vehicular traffic. “We will represent the matter to the government for taking appropriate steps in this direction keeping in view the next Godavari Pushkaralu when lakhs of people throng the temple town in 2015,” he says.

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