Bhubaneswar: The public works department has initiated the process to construct two new foot overbridges on Bidyut Marg near the Kalinga Stadium. This will help pedestrians cross the road smoothly and safe.
The location of the overbridges has been finalised after Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Bhubaneswar Development Authority and police officials carried out a joint inspection of the spot.
While one bridge will be built near the reserve police barrack, the other will come up a few meters away from Nicco Park Square.
"We have floated the tender after finalising the locations of the bridges. The tender process will be over in a month and work will begin simultaneously. The project will cost Rs 4.70 crore and will be thrown open to the public before November," said superintending engineer (roads) Ranjit Kumar Sahu.
The plan to construct the bridges had cropped up during the first executive meeting of the officials held in January for smooth conduct of Men's Hockey World Cup in November.
The bridges will be constructed mainly to minimise traffic congestion and facilitate visitors' movement to the stadium during the event.
"Thousands of people will be visiting the city during the grand sports event in November. We need to be prepared to handle the rush. We got the lesson from the Asian Athletics that was held last year and are not in a mood to repeat the flaws. The bridges will help a lot in controlling traffic," said an official of the sports and youth services department.
The sports and youth services department has also requested the public works department to take steps and complete the work on the new foot overbridges by June 20.
"We are taking up several infrastructure projects for the world cup. We need to work in a time-bound manner for which the deadlines are set," the official said.
There are no proper pedestrian crossing facilities near Kalinga Stadium on the Bid-yut Marg and it contributed to major traffic snarls in the area. This has become a major problem for the authorities, especially during the conduct of various sports events.
"It is a good move. Traffic congestion had become a major problem near the stadium during last year's Asian athletics meet," said Nayapalli resident Vimal Mehta.
