Goods vehicles will be off Vidyasagar Setu — the Second Hooghly Bridge — for eight months from next week to facilitate repair of the cable-stayed structure.
On Tuesday, Kolkata police and the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) issued a “traffic advisory” detailing how goods vehicles will be diverted while the bridge will be closed to them.
Some of the cables and bearings of the bridge will be replaced as part of the repair job, the first such overhaul since it was inaugurated on October 10, 1992.
“HRBC officials wanted goods vehicles to stay off the bridge from Wednesday. A traffic advisory was accordingly drawn up and published,” said a senior police officer at Lalbazar.
“Later, they said a week’s time would be required to prepare for the repair and restoration work. The diversion for goods vehicles will begin when the HRBC is ready to start work.”
There are three lanes on each of the two flanks of the bridge, one for Howrah-bound vehicles and the other for the ones travelling towards Kolkata.
It has been decided that beginning next week, work will start in two of the three lanes of the Howrah-bound flank. Vehicles headed towards Howrah will move through the remaining lane of the flank and one of the three lanes on the Kolkata-bound flank.
It will be the same when work on the Kolkata-bound flank starts, the police said.
“HRBC officials have said that collectively, they need the closure for eight months. During this period, the bridge will remain closed to goods vehicles,” the officer said.
Goods vehicles moving along AJC Bose Road, from DL Khan Road and Presidency Correctional Home, and headed towards Vidyasagar Setu will be diverted towards Esplanade through Mayo Road for onward movement towards Shyambazar, Tallah bridge and Dunlop, according to the diversion plan.
Vehicles coming from the port area and headed towards Vidyasagar Setu will be diverted through Clyde Row, Strand Road and towards Central Avenue for onward movement to Shyambazar and Dunlop.
Goods vehicles plying through AJC Bose Road towards Vidyasagar Setu will be diverted towards Esplanade from the Exide crossing. They will travel north through Central Avenue on their way to Dunlop.
From Dunlop, the goods vehicles will cross the Hooghly through the Bally bridge.
“The traffic guards have been briefed about the diversion plans. Necessary signage has been put up to inform the public about the diversions,” said a senior officer overseeing traffic movement in the city.
Spanning 823m, Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable-stayed bridge in India. Engineers from two companies — Freeman Fox and Partners and the Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited — had supervised the construction of the bridge, which took over 22 years to build.
Senior structural and civil engineers of the HRBC, which maintains the structure, said the bridge has 152 cables laid out in a fan arrangement.
Two sets of pylons at both ends — with their foundations underwater — hold an additional set of 16 cables. They are known as holding down cables and aren’t visible from the top.
“These 16 cables were brought from Germany. They help the 152 stay cables above maintain the correct tension of the bridge despite the heavy flow of vehicles,” said an HRBC official.
“The first phase of the work will involve replacing the stay cables. Then necessary steps will be taken to ensure the stability of the structure,” the official said.
“Since the replacement procedure is complicated and it involves constant monitoring, two lanes of the bridge will have to be shut to traffic for eight months.”