Cuttack, May 31: Traffic woes of hundreds of pedestrians who cross the busy Badambadi junction every day will soon come to an end. A foot overbridge that coming up at Badambadi spells safety for those plying this busy crossing that is prone to accidents.

Urban development minister Sarada Nayak inaugurated the foot overbridge that is a first for the city on Tuesday.

Traffic officials say that at least two to three pedestrians get injured while crossing the busy road at Badambadi on a daily basis. As three major bus stands are located on the stretch from Badambadi to Palamandap, people from other parts of the state too use the road. Nearly 25,000 pedestrians use the 2-km stretch from Badambadi to Link Road that connects with National Highway No. 5.

“The bridge was much needed at Badambadi as the pedestrians had to depend on the small openings on the concrete road dividers to travel from one side of the road to the other,” said Sanjay Das, 44, a local resident.

The overbridge project of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has been executed by Selvel, which has built the footbridge on a build-operate-transfer basis.

The cost of the total project was earlier estimated to be around Rs 1 crore and the foundation stone was laid on Local Self-Government Day on September 1, 2009.

The overbridge was supposed to be completed by 2010, but was stalled because of a delay in getting the no-objection certificate from various agencies, said Selvel liaison officer Jagannath Patnaik.

Mayor Saumendra Ghose said there were plans to set up another overbridge at Madhupatana Square. The foundation stone for the project has already been laid and work is expected to begin shortly.