Big rig invasion: Bhopal’s light roads, bridges can’t take it

Bhopal: Bhopal's urban roads and bridges are facing mounting stress as heavy freight traffic continues to pass through the city instead of designated bypass routes.Engineers note that when many bridges were constructed in the 1990s, they were designed for vehicles carrying loads of around 30 tons. Today, trucks weighing 80–150 tons are increasingly seen on city roads, far exceeding the approved limits.Concerns over bridge safety in Bhopal continue to grow, with experts warning that maintenance lapses and lessons from past tragedies are being overlooked. In 2015, a section of the Bharat Talkies bridge—one of the main links to platform number 1 of Bhopal railway station—collapsed, killing two people and injuring several others. A subsequent Public Works Department (PWD) report to the state govt concluded that the collapsed portion lacked sufficient steel reinforcement, pointing to both design flaws and poor upkeepin the case.Nearly a decade later, uninterrupted streams of heavy vehicles are now seen on two of Bhopal's most prominent bridges. The VIP Road bridge, constructed under the Bhoj Wetland project and running 4.7 kilometres along the Ramsar-protected site, has increasingly become a night-time corridor for trucks and buses connecting Indore and Gwalior. On the other side, Veer Savarkar Setu, with its sharp S- curve alignment, is bearing the brunt of heavy traffic arriving from Raisen and other districts to the east. Both routes were originally intended for lighter traffic, but the growing presence of freight vehicles highlights the urgent need to revisit and enforce restrictions to protect the city's fragile infrastructure and environment.