Vidyasagar Setu will remain shut to traffic for six hours from 8am to 2pm on Sunday to let engineers assess the structure, said officials of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC).
Vehicles heading towards the bridge from Alipore will be diverted from Turf View towards the Hastings intersection. The vehicles will then be allowed to move down St George’s Road and Strand Road.
Vehicles headed towards Vidyasagar Setu from Red Road will be diverted to Hastings for onward movement towards Strand Road along St George’s Gate.
Those headed for Alipore or AJC Bose Road have to take a right turn from the Hastings intersection since all ramps leading to the bridge will remain shut for those six hours.
“Vehicles from Kidderpore and headed towards the bridge will be diverted towards Strand Road,” said an officer overseeing traffic diversions.
By Friday, signboards will be put up at all key intersections to make commuters aware of the closure, officers said.
By Sunday morning, there will be special deployment of forces to implement the diversions.
Senior officers in the Howrah police commissionerate said arrangements were being made so that vehicles headed for Calcutta are re-directed towards Howrah and Bally bridges.
The 823-metre-long Vidyasagar Setu is a cable-stayed structure. The bridge, with three lanes in each direction, is 35-metre wide. The deck over the main span is 457.2-metre long.
“We will carry out a geometrical survey of the structure to assess its stability, load-bearing capacity and how the cables are responding to wind,” said an engineer of HRBC, the agency that maintains the bridge.
