Finally, old Sardar Bridge opens for traffic

Bharuch: Finally, commuters on Ahmedabad-Mumbai national highway (NH) 9 can breathe easy. After days of frustrating traffic snarls on both sides of the Golden Bridge, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) declared the old Sardar Bridge near Bharuch open for traffic on Wednesday.
The bridge was closed for heavy vehicles since 2009 and completely banned for all vehicles since October after heavy rains in the region worsened its condition.
Over a period of time, the pre-stressing in the box girders of bridge became loose and bearings near cantilever expansion joints were also damaged. In absence of this bridge, the entire vehicle load came on the new Sardar Bridge constructed by L&T. However, with ever increasing traffic, this bridge too witnessed massive traffic jams.
Kirankumar Dandapad, resident engineer from Bridge Engineers, a consultant appointed by NHAI said, "The bridge was constructed using pre-stressing technology, which is used only in two other places in the country besides Bharuch."
NHAI spent Rs 30 crore to repair the old Sardar Bridge that was constructed in 1977. The bridge is now open for both heavy and light vehicles for one way traffic towards Surat. However, over-dimensional consignments vehicles (ODCs) are not allowed on this bridge, said Kirankumar.
Kamlesh Udani, convener of Bharuch Citizens Council welcomed announcement and said, "It is not permanent solution though. It will definitely give some relief from the daily traffic jams but it is more important to build new bridges near Sardar Bridge and Golden Bridge at the earliest."
The traffic problem had turned so serious that people were forced to launch an agitation to demand a new bridge. The protests even forced removal of the toll tax from the new bridge till new bridges become operational.