Cauvery bridge in Tiruchi reopened to traffic after extensive renovation

Construction of an additional bridge across the river is likely to begin this year, says Municipal Administration Minister K. N. Nehru

After four months, the renovated bridge across the Cauvery river in the city reopened to traffic on Saturday.

Declaring open the bridge, Minister for Municipal Administration K.N. Nehru said construction of a new bridge, running parallel to the renovated structure, would most likely begin this year. “The Chief Minister has approved it and the estimate for the new bridge has been revised to ₹120 crore from ₹90 crore.”

The new bridge is planned to be built upstream of the river in view of the rising volume of traffic. The renovated bridge would be retained to cater to traffic coming from Mambazhasalai, while the new one would be for vehicles on the opposite direction.

The rehabilitation work was taken up after motorists experienced severe jolts while driving on the bridge. In September 2018, the Highways Department used advanced guniting method to repair the damaged joints and edges. Yet, gaps kept surfacing on the expansion joints of the bridge, requiring major repairs.

The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic, except two-wheelers, from September 10 last and light and heavy vehicles were diverted via Chennai-Tiruchi Bypass Road. The bridge was closed to two-wheelers too from November 20 as elastomeric bearings had to be fixed on the deck slabs.

The expansion joints had been fully renovated and all 192 bearings on the structure had been replaced now, department officials said. Also, the parapet of the bridge had been brightly painted and sports couplets from Thirukkural.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Nehru pointed out that the bridge was built in 1976 and said it was strong enough to last a 100 years. But the bearings on the structure had lost their elasticity due to dumping of concrete over them during the previous regime.