The western flank of Gandhi Setu from pillar number 1 to 8 (from the Hajipur side) will remain closed for 24 hours from 2pm on Thursday.
Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal and his Vaishali counterpart Rachana Patil jointly took the decision in the meeting attended by superintendent of police (traffic) P.K. Das and Vaishali superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar in Patna City.
The shutdown of the Setu will help understand the traffic pressure once the restructuring of the bridge starts from the first week of June.
During the meeting, it was decided that vehicles will be allowed from Patna to Hajipur on the pontoon bridge parallel to the Setu. Earlier, vehicles were allowed to ply only from the Hajipur side.
Agarwal said: "The 24-hour trial run will start on the Gandhi Setu tomorrow (Thursday) at 2pm. The decision has been taken to identify the pressure points on traffic once the restructuring of the Setu begins. During the trial, we have made alternative arrangements so that commuters do not face problems. The traffic movement will not be allowed between pillar number 1 and 8."
During the trial run, commuters will use the eastern flank, which is roughly around 887.69m of the 5.775km bridge.
Traffic SP P.K. Das said that for the first time they will allow vehicles on the pontoon bridge from Patna to Hajipur. "From 4.30pm to 6am, vehicles will be allowed to ply from Patna to Hajipur. From 6am to 4.30pm, vehicles will be allowed to ply from Hajipur to Patna. To regulate the traffic during the trial run we will deploy additional 260 constables and 50 officers apart from the current strength."
The restructuring of the bridge will commence from pillar number one (Vaishali side). So, the trial run is being conducted on the same stretch. The plan entails demolition of the super structure of the western flank and changing it with a steel structure in the first phase. This would be repeated for the eastern flank.
The traffic-test decision was taken after chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and director-general of police, Bihar, P.K. Thakur recently instructed the officials concerned during a high-level meeting to begin the trial.
In February 2017, officials from the ministry of road transport and highways and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had made presentations before the chief secretary regard going ahead with the Setu restructuring.
The ministry has selected Afcon Infrastructure Ltd for the Setu redevelopment work and the agency has promised to complete it in 42 months.
"The executing agency is ready to start work. The trial will be conducted to figure out the minute details so that arrangements could be made accordingly. I have requested the Vaishali administration to coordinate with the Patna traffic police," Agarwal said.
