Cuttack, May 2: The opening of a road under-bridge above the existing railway level crossing near Barang will decide when the much-awaited bridge over the Kathajodi can be thrown open to traffic.

The 2.88-km bridge over the river, which is the longest and first-of-its-kind three-lane structure in the state, will connect Cuttack to Bhubaneswar and reduce travel time significantly.

Though the state government plans to open the bridge for the public on May 31, traffic experts feel that opening the bridge for traffic without making the railway under-bridge operational at Barang will lead to serious overcrowding of vehicles on that road.

An elevated railway track that passes over a road is called a railway under-bridge.

More than 50,000 vehicles use the NH-5 to travel from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar on a daily basis.

"The three-lane bridge is expected to ease traffic congestion on the NH-5 as it will reduce the road distance between twin cities from 30km to 20km. Consequently, the railway under-bridge should start functioning before the bridge over the Kathajodi opens. Otherwise, there will be serious traffic congestion on that route," said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Pradeep Kumar Dalai.

While the three-lane bridge over the Kathajodi river is expected to open by the end of this month, the Barang railway under-bridge is expected to open in July.

At present, road traffic has to pass through the railway level crossing at Barang to cross the single railway line between Barang and Naraj through which passenger and goods trains that touch Bhubaneswar but don't pass through Cuttack are routed. It is a manned level crossing that has barriers and is operated by a gatekeeper.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) had planned to lay a second track between Barang and Naraj along with conversion of the level crossing at Barang into a railway under-bridge in view of the traffic flow from Khurda via Pithapali, Bhubaneswar via Nandankanan and Banki via Trishulia to Cuttack through Gopalpur.

Between 20 and 25 trains - most of them carrying goods - pass through the level crossing every day. Consequently, the road traffic is held up for 10 to 15 minutes as the barriers are put up for each train.

ECoR officials said construction of the railway under-bridge was complete along with doubling of the tracks between Barang and Naraj.

"It will take a maximum of two months to make the railway under-bridge functional and close the level crossing," said an ECoR official who did not want to be named.

The works department's roads and building division is constructing the second bridge across the Kathajodi from near the Odisha Judicial Academy in Cuttack to Trishulia near Barang.

"Construction of the bridge is nearing completion. It will be ready to be opened for the public by May 31," said executive engineer of the roads and buildings (Cuttack division) Pramod Kumar Nayak.