Vehicles will not be allowed on the bascule bridge in Kidderpore between 8am and noon on Friday because of repairs.

An official of the Calcutta Port Trust, the custodian of the bridge, said two cover plates at one of the joints of the bridge had to be replaced.

It is routine maintenance work, he said. “The two plates at the approach of the bridge from the Garden Reach end are being replaced. There is nothing to worry.

“Our engineers worked on the bridge on Thursday as well. The remaining work would be completed on Friday.”

The bridge is only one of three bascule bridges in the country. The others are at the Mumbai port (single leaf not double-leaf like the Kidderpore one) and in Tamil Nadu. It became operational on November 15, 1966.

Waagen Biro Bridge System AG of Austria had built the bridge.

Traffic would be diverted through other roads during the repairs, police said.

“Small vehicles headed towards the city from Garden Reach can take Swing Bridge and Satya Doctor Road to reach Kidderpore tram depot or Ordnance Club, depending on where they want to go,” an officer of southwest traffic guard said. “Buses will be diverted through Remount Road to reach Diamond Harbour Road.” Vehicles headed to Garden Reach would take the same roads.

A damaged cover plate of a joint on the bridge Picture by Pradip Sanyal

In August 2017, the two leafs of the bridge got stuck while being lowered.

The problem was traced to a fault in the electrical control panel and repaired.

But the same thing happened again within four days. On both occasions, the bridge remained parted for seven to eight hours disrupting traffic between Kidderpore on one end and Garden Reach and Metiabruz on the other.

The port trust authorities had then promised to completely overhaul the bridge. “We will float a global tender. The process is underway,” a port trust official said.

The plate being repaired Picture by Pradip Sanyal