Steps in place to cut Tallah bridge load

The Tallah bridge is in a precarious condition and the government is taking temporary measures to reduce load on it. A load test will be conducted soon to decide whether the bridge should be completely shut down or small and light vehicles can be allowed on it. A bar on movement of buses means a long diversion. Based on conversations with state government officials, police officers and railways officials and other sources present at a meeting in Nabanna on Thursday, Metro gives a low-down on what daily commuters can do

Possible diversions

• Some buses will be diverted towards Dum Dum-Nagerbazar from Chiria More. From there buses can take either Jessore Road or go towards VIP Road.
• Some buses will be diverted from the Paikpara-BT Road crossing to Raja Manindra Road and then via Khudiram Bose Avenue, Belgachhia bridge, RG Kar Road to Shyambazar.
• The government will also request the railways to allow some bus routes to terminate at the Kolkata station. Sources said this would take people closer to Belgachhia Metro station.

Start of diversions

• Sources said chief minister Mamata Banerjee will preside over a meeting on Friday morning to discuss the health of the bridge.
• Mamata will take the final call on what restrictions to impose and from when.

Cars and light vehicles

• Vehicles with gross weight of up to 3 tonnes will be allowed.
• Engineers said this meant that even SUVs, such as Mahindra Scorpio, could ply.
• Overloaded light goods vehicles will not be allowed.

Pedestrian movement

• No word on pedestrians so far.
• A source present in the meeting said if cars were allowed, there was no point stopping pedestrians.
• But some government sour-ces said police and transport department would stop pedestrian movement, if needed.

Autorickshaws

• If pedestrian movement is stopped on the bridge, the transport department and police can open an auto route from BT Road to Shyambazar, crossing the bridge.

Changes on the bridge

• The width of the carriageway will be reduced. The portion closer to the footpath will be barricaded.
• Sources said the 13.5m-wide carriageway would be reduced to 10m. This is necessary because the girders towards the edges are vulnerable.

What next

• A load test, for which the bridge will be shut for about 12 hours, will be done before Puja.
• The test will help know how much load the bridge can bear.
• If the load test finds that cars, light vehicles and pedestrians shouldn’t be allowed, the bridge may have to be closed.