Road to new Panemangalore bridge in poor shape
{ Posted on 9:51 PM
by junaidess
}
MANGALORE: Its not even three months since the new Panemangalore bridge across the River Nethravathi in Bantwal taluk was opened up for traffic, the approach roads on either side of the bridge are in a state of mess.
While the bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 8.62 crore, the road connecting either side of the bridge cost another Rs 9.33 crore taking the total cost of the project to Rs 17.95 crore.
Of the total of 1.9 km of the approach roads, nearly 200 mts is eroded and most of the traffic is moving along the old Panemangalore bridge.
Is it a case of sub-standard work? National Highway Authority, Mangalore Division executive engineer Balakrishna refutes the charges. He told The Times of India the problem arose due to inadequate depth of the road along the 200 mts ---as major length of the road runs on the rocky portions.
He said while the standard depth for a road should be about a metre, the depth where the road was eroded was about 40 cms. Balakrishna said while the contractors tried to blast rock to gain enough depth for the construction of the road, the local residents opposed fearing damage to their houses. Hence they could not carry out the works to maintain enough 'depth' in the damaged stretch.
He said the NH has already proposed the permanent solution, which is concreting the stretch of 200 mts after the monsoon. The NHA official assured that till such time, the NH would try its best to maintain it.
Balakrishna also pointed out that part of the damage to the road was also due to trucks, which were overloaded to the extent of 200 per cent. He observed that while a truck, which is supposed to carry 16 metric tonnes carries 40 or 50 MT, it would do considerable damage to the road as it is way beyond the carrying capacity of the road.
The Mangalore-Bangalore NH 48 is the only link to the capital as Mangalore not connected with Bangalore with a railway link and hundreds of overloaded trucks ply daily, transporting timber and granite. The roads are badly eroded in many places and especially on the ghat section near Sakleshpur.
Toll gate: With regard to the toll collection on the new bridge, Balakrishna said it would commence as soon as the Gazette notification is done.
It may be recalled the toll collection was temporarily suspended in the second week of May, following widespread resentment and confusion over collection of toll at the bridge.
The toll collection contract was given for an annualised fee of Rs 1.14 crore. The contractor has to pay Rs 2.2 lakh (at the rate of Rs 31,500 per day) to the NH authorities on a weekly basis.
While the bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 8.62 crore, the road connecting either side of the bridge cost another Rs 9.33 crore taking the total cost of the project to Rs 17.95 crore.
Of the total of 1.9 km of the approach roads, nearly 200 mts is eroded and most of the traffic is moving along the old Panemangalore bridge.
Is it a case of sub-standard work? National Highway Authority, Mangalore Division executive engineer Balakrishna refutes the charges. He told The Times of India the problem arose due to inadequate depth of the road along the 200 mts ---as major length of the road runs on the rocky portions.
He said while the standard depth for a road should be about a metre, the depth where the road was eroded was about 40 cms. Balakrishna said while the contractors tried to blast rock to gain enough depth for the construction of the road, the local residents opposed fearing damage to their houses. Hence they could not carry out the works to maintain enough 'depth' in the damaged stretch.
He said the NH has already proposed the permanent solution, which is concreting the stretch of 200 mts after the monsoon. The NHA official assured that till such time, the NH would try its best to maintain it.
Balakrishna also pointed out that part of the damage to the road was also due to trucks, which were overloaded to the extent of 200 per cent. He observed that while a truck, which is supposed to carry 16 metric tonnes carries 40 or 50 MT, it would do considerable damage to the road as it is way beyond the carrying capacity of the road.
The Mangalore-Bangalore NH 48 is the only link to the capital as Mangalore not connected with Bangalore with a railway link and hundreds of overloaded trucks ply daily, transporting timber and granite. The roads are badly eroded in many places and especially on the ghat section near Sakleshpur.
Toll gate: With regard to the toll collection on the new bridge, Balakrishna said it would commence as soon as the Gazette notification is done.
It may be recalled the toll collection was temporarily suspended in the second week of May, following widespread resentment and confusion over collection of toll at the bridge.
The toll collection contract was given for an annualised fee of Rs 1.14 crore. The contractor has to pay Rs 2.2 lakh (at the rate of Rs 31,500 per day) to the NH authorities on a weekly basis.
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