The Strand Road stretch between Fairlie Place and Armenian Ghat that has remained out of bounds for vehicles since February is likely to be thrown open to public next week.

The 600-metre stretch had been cordoned off on February 19 though the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) started work in March.

The CMC undertook the project to level Strand Road, where a metalled portion is three to six inches higher than the concrete portion. Several goods vehicles have overturned because of the uneven surface.

About 7.5 metre of the 14 metre-wide Strand Road has bitumen as the top layer. The rest has a concrete top layer. The levelling work will lower the bituminous layer.

"We will complete work on the dug-up portion by Sunday, if it doesn't rain. Hopefully, we will throw it open to public next week," said a road department engineer.

As part of the first phase, of the 7.5 metre width, 4 metres on the eastern side of Strand Road between Fairlie Place and Armenian Ghat has been lowered.

A portion from the top has been scraped off and a new layer of bitumen has been applied. But the delay in work has affected traffic movement along the stretch.

An employee with a private company who lives in Serampore said it took him 45 minutes to reach Howrah from Esplanade.

The CMC engineer attributed the delay to cleaning underground drainage lines and creating new catch pits. "There were several catch pits and the sewer lines had not been cleaned for years that led to heavy water-logging during monsoon. It took time to clean the drains and create new catch pits."

As soon as the CMC throws open this stretch, it would seek permission from police to block a new stretch of 3.5 metre width, parallel to this stretch, so that the entire road surface is even.

A traffic police officer said it would have been best if the civic body had managed to complete the work during summer vacation.