The Balason river bridge in Siliguri reopened to twoway traffic on Monday, after a gap of 10 months during which it was being repaired.

The reopening of the bridge, located on NH10 between Bagdogra and Darjeeling More, has come as a relief for lakhs of residents in and around the city and thousands of daily commuters to Siliguri. Two way traffic had stalled at the bridge after a pillar was damaged by the rainfed, swollen Balason river in October last year.

A stretch of the concrete plank of the bridge had also subsided then.This had made the state PWD (NHIX division) install a Bailey bridge over the damaged stretch in December, 2021. Since then, vehicles had been moving in a single flank on the bridge.The PWD had also taken the task to repair the damaged portion.

The repair work ended recently. Since August 19, traffic was closed to dismantle the Bailey bridge.

“The dismantling ended on Sunday. All the components of the Bailey bridge were removed and from this morning (Monday), the bridge has been opened for twoway traffic,” said Gaurav Sharma, the commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police.

He said that buses, school buses, vehicles of defence and paramilitary forces, along with all light vehicles and two and threewheelers, will be allowed to pass on the bridge. Police, however, have restricted movement of heavy vehicles weighing beyond 15 tonnes on the bridge. “Those would be diverted through Fulbari and Canal Road,” said a source.

Gautam Deb, the mayor of Siliguri, visited the bridge on Monday as it reopened for twoway traffic. He said that the bridge was built in 1964.“The state PWD has done a commendable job. Initially, they had installed the Bailey bridge which helped in partial restoration of traffic along the route. Meanwhile, they carried out repair works. It is good to see that in less than a year’s time, they have restored vehicular movement on the bridge,” said Deb.