No trucks to ply on shaky Varthur bridge for a month

Bengaluru: After repeated complaints on the shaking Varthur bridge, the road infrastructure wing of BBMP has written to traffic police, requesting them to disallow all vehicles weighing over 30 tonnes, including commercial trucks, from plying on the stretch Thursday onwards. However, the bridge won’t be off-limits for schoolbuses and public transport vehicles.

As per the letter written to the additional commissioner of police (traffic), the Palike took the assistance of technical experts to analyse the bridge condition. S Somashekhar, chief engineer, major road infrastructure, said requisite signage would be in place by Thursday.

“Traffic police have agreed to our request. It will require about a month for the work, which we are executing under the Varthur road widening project. The cost will only be known when the repair is complete. The bridge, constructed 17-18 years ago, was handed over to BBMP in 2007. Some of the problems have to do with the construction process at the time,” he said.

According to expert analysis, the main work to be done is grouting or filling of concrete in small gaps at the bottom of the girder, technically known as honeycombs, which will take about a month. Honeycombs have a tendency to weaken the steel concrete bond and need to be reinforced. The other work involves repairing of expansion joints, bearings and re-asphalting of the bridge after removing the existing layer.

Somashekhar is confident that the impending monsoon will not delay the work as only asphalting the stretch requires dry weather, and will only take a day.

Traffic police officers said that they had identified some alternative routes but would change them if drivers face trouble. “For vehicles coming from Sarjapur, we have identified the Chikka Tirupati road as a diversion. From Hoskote, vehicles can take the route from Hope Farm to Thirumalashettyhalli. At Channasandra Cross, locals are objecting to the diversion so we have to come up with another route,” said an official.