Safety audit of 25 flyovers, underpasses soon in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: With Sumanahalli flyover — where the carriageway developed a hole recently — declared distressed, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is set to conduct a safety audit of 25 flyovers and underpasses to find if they are fit for use. These include some of the oldest structures in places like Anand Rao Circle, Richmond Circle, Sirsi Circle, Central Silk Board and Lingarajpuram.
The civic body is the custodian of 59 flyovers, underpasses and pedestrian subways across the city and the 25 structures which have been shortlisted for the safety audit have been in use for more than seven years.
“We do not want to take any risk and it’s high time a safety audit of these flyovers and underpasses is done. Work is under way to restore Sumanahalli flyover. Similarly, all kind of safety measures will be adopted for the other structures. We have shortlisted an agency to check all aspects, including bearings, structural joints, RCC and other components. It will have to suggest remedies too,” said BBMP commissoner BH Anil Kumar.
Though the Palike had earmarked Rs 5 crore to conduct safety audit for these 25 flyovers/underpasses, the consultant — Infra Support Engineering Consultants — offered to do it for Rs 4.1 crore and landed the contract. The Bureau Veritas India Private Limited, which had declared Summanahalli flyover distressed, failed to qualify in the technical evaluations.
Under its 2019-20 budget, the civic agency had reserved Rs 50 crore towards maintenance of flyover and underpasses and deposited the same in an escrow account. On September 17 last year, the then major roads infrastructure standing committee gave its nod to use the funds, yet the engineers allegedly sat on the file and woke up only after the Sumanahalli flyover developed a hole on November 1.
“Things have been fast-tracked now. We invited tenders and finalised everything. The standing committee too has cleared it. Now we are waiting for a nod from the council. If all goes as per plan, safety audit will be initiated shortly,” explained an engineer.
“The consultant will also have to inspect and prepare the records of each flyover/underpasses separately, including photographs and videography from various angles, traffic surveys, load rating, mapping of any distress signs like cracks and spalling, core testing and crack monitoring. Further, crack patterns will also have to be studied,” the engineer added.
According to the proposal cleared by the standing committee, the Rs 50 crore budgetary allocation will be used for maintenance of these 25 underpasses/flyovers and some other pedestrian subways. The committee has recommended taking up all works through Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited to avoid tendering process, he added.