Jacketing work to strengthen bridge pier on Solan-Kandaghat highway stretch begins

The jacketing work to strengthen a pier of an upcoming viaduct bridge at Salogra on the Solan-Kandaghat stretch of the Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway-5 has begun.

Hilti company, which specialises in safety and sustainability of mega highway projects, has been entrusted with the task to be accomplished in the next three months. Though Airef Engineers is undertaking the widening of the Solan-Kandaghat-Kaithlighat section of the highway to four lanes, the services of Hilti are being utilised after the design wing of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) detected some shortcomings during an inspection some months ago.

“As the bridge is yet to be made functional, the jacketing work comprising the laying of a new layer of steel material around a pier is being undertaken to increase its strength, stiffness, ductility and load capacity. It effectively increases the cross-section and provides confinement, making structure more resilient to aging and increased loads,” said Anand Dahiya, Project Director, NHAI, Shimla.

The work that began a fortnight ago would be completed in the next three months, thus paving the way for the completion of the viaduct bridge by laying steel structures. The work to build the bridge was halted months ago, thus delaying the widening of the highway,

The height of two circular piers being laid for this bridge was exceptionally high at 40 metres. To ensure its safety, the NHAI was periodically inspecting it, besides assessment by expert agencies like IITs.

Dahiya said that while the work to widen a major portion of the 22.91-km highway stretch from Solan to Kaithlighat had been completed, the work on six stretches was still pending, including the completion of a flyover at Kandaghat, finishing work on a tunnel, besides some other works at various sites between Waknaghat and Kandaghat.

This is the third phase of the National Highway Development Project on the Kalka-Shimla road stretch. The highway is being constructed in the engineering, procurement and construction mode. With several impediments like hurdles in land acquisition, highway projects have not been able to stick to their deadlines.

The highway widening work, originally assigned for 30 months in December 2018, was supposed to be completed by June 2022. It, however, was running behind schedule and was slated to take several months more for completion.