Traffic movement on Alipore bridge, also known as Dhana Dhanya Setu, will remain closed from 10am to 1pm on Sunday for a “concrete core test” of the structure, police said.
Vehicles headed towards Alipore and taking the bridge will be diverted from the DL Khan Road and Sambhu Nath Pandit Road crossing towards the Harish Mukherjee Road and Sambhu Nath Pandit Road crossing. Those headed towards Reformatory Road from the Alipore Road and Belvedere Road crossing will be diverted along Belvedere Road, police said.
“Heavy vehicles and buses will be diverted from the Judges Court Road and Diamond Harbour Road crossing towards Alipore via Diamond Harbour Road,” said a senior police officer. “Officers have been clearly briefed about the diversion plan. Since it’s Sunday, hopefully executing the plan won’t be a challenge.”
The Alipore bridge is among three such structures over the Tolly Nullah, including Khiderpore Old Steel bridge and Doi Ghat bridge which are under the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority’s supervision.
Senior engineers said during the three-hour closure period series of tests would be conducted to assess the condition of the concrete and find out if micro-cracks had surfaced or not.
“Along with this we will also carry out ‘ground penetrating radar test’ to find out the condition of the underground utilities and check whether the bridge’s structure has suffered any damage because of the Nullah’s water," said a senior CMDA engineer.
As with the two other bridges, the Alipore bridge too has only witnessed short-term repairs aimed at addressing certain minor issues. “Now, we want to carry out a health study of all these three bridges beginning with the Alipore bridge,” the engineer said.