Ghaggar bridge to be shut again for repairs

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, August 17

The old Ghaggar bridge near Bhankarpur is all set to get a new lease of life as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to undertake repair work on it from next week. The bridge will be closed for heavy traffic.

Earlier also, the bridge was closed for heavy traffic for over a week in September 2016 following damage to one of the expansion joints of the bridge.

A team of engineers from Andhra Pradesh, along with NHAI officials, examined the extent of damage caused to the Ghaggar bridge on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway to ascertain if it was repairable.

The repair work is expected to continue for about four months, to be executed by Varshita Engineers at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore.

The funds for the repairs will be provided by GMR, which has been assigned the project.

GMR officials told Chandigarh Tribune today that the lane near Bhankarpur from the Zirakpur side towards Ambala would be closed for heavy traffic, including trucks, buses, tractor-trailers and load-carrying vehicles, and these would be diverted to other routes. However, cars and two-wheelers would be allowed on the bridge (on one side at a time).

It is learnt that the traffic heading towards Ambala will be diverted from the new median a few metres away from McDonald.

The traffic will be diverted back on the road from the cut near Bhankapur. An extra lane has been constructed for vehicles coming from the Ambala side to avoid snarls. The traffic from Shimla will be diverted to the service lane before the K-area traffic lights, Zirakpur.

A GMR official said, “We have informed the traffic police in advance so that they make a plan to manage the heavy traffic.”