The newly-built Majerhat bridge will soon be open to loaded trucks and other goods vehicles, which are barred from plying over most flyovers and bridges across Calcutta.

Since its inauguration last Thursday, Calcutta police have been keeping heavy and medium goods vehicles away from the Majerhat bridge, christened Jai Hind bridge.

On Sunday, senior police officers said they were open to allowing heavy goods vehicles on the bridge after engineers certified that most of the components of the structure were performing according to the expectation.

The state government had declared most flyovers and bridges out of bounds for goods vehicles after the collapse of the old Majerhat bridge in September 2018. A committee of engineers set up by the government had inspected the flyovers and bridges and found that most were not strong enough to bear the load of goods vehicles.

Senior officials in the PWD said that over the past three days, engineers had been monitoring the performance of the cables of the Majerhat bridge, which hold the deck slab over the railway tracks, and the piers, which transfer the structure’s load to the ground. The study has left the engineers confident that goods vehicles can move over the bridge, built at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

“We have observed the performance of the different components of the bridge and the results are satisfactory,” said a PWD official. “We will revisit the bridge on Monday with police and finalise the movement plan for goods vehicles.”

The 260-metre-long deck slab of the bridge remains suspended by 84 cables brought from Switzerland.

Ahead of the inauguration, a load of 534 tonnes was mounted on the bridge and the engineers were happy with the outcome. The cables that hold the deck slab are now subjected to the load equivalent to 40 per cent of their capacity and the engineers feel there is no immediate challenge to the bridge if goods vehicles are allowed on it.

“We will soon come out with a notification regarding the movement of goods vehicles on the Majerhat bridge. The timings will remain the same as followed for thoroughfares of Calcutta,” said Rupesh Kumar, the deputy commissioner of police, traffic.

Primarily, it has been decided that goods vehicles of all types that are headed for Thakurpukur or further south will be allowed on the Majerhat bridge from 10pm till early morning.

Apart from that, medium and light goods vehicles moving in either direction will be allowed on the bridge between noon and 4pm. Trailers and very heavy goods vehicles from south will never be allowed on the bridge.

“Parts of Hide Road, Central Garden Reach Road and Garden Reach Road have been struggling for the last two years, since the collapse of the old bridge, with the additional vehicle load,” said a police officer. “Once goods vehicles are allowed to move down the Majerhat bridge, these roads will get a relief.”