Bhubaneswar, Nov. 30: Three spots in the capital that have massive footfall and are vulnerable to road accidents may soon get foot overbridges with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) inviting bids for the same.

The spots — Jayadev Vihar Square, near Ramadevi Women’s College and Master Canteen Square — face major traffic congestion during peak hours, making crossing the roads extremely difficult for pedestrians.

Construction of the foot over bridges would not only improve pedestrian safety and overcome accidents, they would also help senior citizens and differently-abled people cross the busy roads with consummate ease.

Although the civic body had decided to construct the three foot overbridges and included them in the foundation stone laying ceremony on Local Self Government Day on August 31 this year, there was a delay in approving the plan for the overbridge at Jayadev Vihar Square.

Sources said there was a technical delay in approving the structural specifications of the Jayadev Vihar Square foot overbridge as it was to be planned across a main road built by the public works department.

However, following a report in The Telegraph on November 17, the civic body has come up with their advertisement requesting a proposal for construction of the bridge.

A foot overbridge at Jayadev Vihar Square is very important as more than 20,000 pedestrians have been facing serious difficulties while crossing the busy Airport-Nandankanan road.

Youngsters, mainly engineering students of city-based colleges with their campuses at Chandrasekharpur and Patia, are the most affected of the lot and during peak hours — 9.30 to 11.30 am and 5.30 to 7.30 pm — it becomes very difficult for them to cross the busy road.

Police officials said three people died near the Jayadev Vihar stretch in the past few months and about 50 accidents were registered. Therefore, a foot overbridge was badly needed and pedestrians will feel safe only after its construction.

“Apart from Jayadev Vihar, another foot overbridge should be constructed at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Kalyan Mandap as people going to CRP Square, the fire station and Baramunda find it difficult to cross the median there,” said a senior traffic official.

The three proposed foot overbridges will be built in public private partnership mode. As per the proposal, the overbridges will have ramps, lifts and staircases.

The overbridges at the Master Canteen Square and Jayadev Vihar will have lifts, whereas the one near Ramadevi Women’s College will have a ramp for pedestrians.

All the overbridges will have two staircases and drinking water facility, footpaths, barricades and dustbins.

They will be built with a clear internal width of at least three metres connecting all sides of the road.

Their vertical clear height from road level to the bottom of the skywalk would be six metres.

A pre-bidding meeting will be held on December 9 and the bids will be opened on January 10, 2012.

Councillor of Ward No. 20 Subhranshu Patnaik said: “Besides helping the students get past the Jayadev Vihar crossing, the foot overbridge will also provide a vital link between the residential zones and the busy road.”

When asked about the cost of the the project, deputy municipal commissioner Krushna Prasad Pati said: “Once the request for proposals is examined, we can think about the cost factor.”