Repair work on longest bridge across Palar in Arcot begins

High-level bridge across Palar river in Arcot town undergoes month-long overhaul, impacting Chennai-Bengaluru Highway traffic.

A decade and half after it was built, the high-level bridge across Palar river in Arcot town near Ranipet on Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 44) will undergo a month-long overhaul as repair works on the pillars of the facility began on Saturday.

Officials of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), who will monitor the exercise being done by L&T, said traffic on the bridge especially towards Chennai will be closed from Monday (July 22) to facilitate repair works on the bridge. “It is the first major repair work being undertaken on the bridge since it was built in 2004. Vehicles from Bengaluru have been using this bridge to reach Chennai every day,” a NHAI official told The Hindu. 

As an alternative traffic arrangement, NHAI officials said that vehicles from Bengaluru should take a right turn at SSS College for Arts and Science and proceed on the Old Bypass Road (known as Vellore - Chennai Road) to reach the new bridge on the highway from Monday (July 22) onwards.

At present, the new bridge, built in 2012, is used only by vehicles from Chennai to reach Bengaluru. Due to old bridge repair work, the new bridge has been divided into two with barricades and reflectors to allow vehicles from Bengaluru to use the bridge alongside vehicles from Chennai. This traffic arrangement will be in place for a month until repair work on the bridge for Chennai bound vehicles gets completed.   Currently, workers of NHAI have been installing blinkers, reflectors, sign boards, and road markings on the one-kilometre-long alternative route. Ranipet SP D. V. Kiran Shruthi has also directed police to deploy adequate traffic police to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the alternate route along the highway.   NHAI officials said that the bridge towards Chennai was built in 2004. The new bridge is 617 metre-long and 15 metres wide, making it the longest bridge between Chennai and Hosur on the highway. In 2012, another bridge was built parallel to the existing bridge. Since then, vehicles from Bengaluru were using the 2004-built bridge and motorists from Chennai were using the latest bridge.   NHAI officials said that bearings on the pillars of the 2004-built bridge have become weak. It should be replaced with new ones to ensure stability of the bridge, which witnesses at least 20,000 vehicles per day. On an average, each bearing has a lifespan of around 15 years. The bridge has 15 pillars with each pillar will take at least 3-4 days to change new bearings, which are sourced from Nasik (Maharashtra) on it.