Work has begun to remove railway poles that come in the way of a new road to connect Humayun Kabir Sarani and Alipore Avenue and set up foundations for erecting the poles at alternative locations.

The new road — a southward extension of Alipore Avenue — will run across a canal and the rail tracks to the east of the fallen Majerhat bridge. The railways will install a level crossing to enable vehicles to pass through the tracks.

Work has begun on a war footing but the new road is unlikely to be ready before Puja, a railway official said.

The state public works department (PWD) is building, widening and strengthening roads on two sides of the railway tracks and boat canal, which flows next to the tracks on its north.

“We have sought two months from the state government. Making a level crossing is not easy and it will take time. We are trying our best but it is difficult to confirm now if the road can be thrown open before Puja,” said Ravi Mahapatra, the chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway.

The road will be a 7m wide double lane carriageway, a PWD engineer said.

The road will also include two Bailey bridges, to be built over the boat canal by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Limited.

“Each of the Bailey bridges will be 4.25 metres wide. The two bridges will be built next to each other. GRSE will build, assemble and commission the two bridges,” the PWD engineer said.

The state government had initially proposed two roads that would run parallel to the Majerhat bridge.

One of the roads — which will now serve as a pedestrian passage — was to be built next to the Majerhat bridge by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). It will connect Raja Santosh Road and Humayun Kabir Sarani.

“We had initially thought of building a road for vehicles to pass. But the railways has said it cannot allow two level crossings within such as a short distance. We are now building a pedestrian passage,” said an engineer of the CMDA.