The damaged overbridge on the Tiruchi-Chennai Bypass near the Ponmalai Railway Station in Tiruchi will reopened for traffic on Tuesday after extensive repairs.
Sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that all necessary tests had been carried out and clearances obtained for reopening the overbridge. It was closed for traffic on January 12 after a large bulge was noticed on the RE blocks of its approach road. Traffic has been diverted to the old bridge which had been catering to two-way traffic since then. The closure of the overbridge had created a major traffic bottleneck on the busy Chennai-Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway section.
The NHAI, through the concessionaire, had carried out extensive repairs to the damaged portion of the bridge based on the expert recommendations of faculty members of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
The loose sand and other material from the damaged portion of the approach road, including the RE blocks, were removed segment-by-segment before rebuilding it. The structure has been strengthened by adopting the soil nailing technique and grouting.
The expert team from IIT-Madras had conducted extensive inspection of the site after repairs. Load tests have been conducted to check the stability of the structure after repairs. NHAI sources confirmed traffic would be allowed on the overbridge from Tuesday.
