KOLKATA: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) plans to take up repair work of the nearly 100-year-old Bagmari bridge over Circular canal on Maniktala main road which is an important connecting link between Kankurgachi and Maniktala.
Officials said that ther bridge length, including the approach ramps is about 350 meter. "The bridge will undergo overall normal repairs with plastering on the eroded spots of the wall, patch up of the concrete and road surface, repairing and installing new railings and other work followed which an overall structural assessment would could be done to check if the bridge needs to be further strengthened," said a KMDA official.
Officials said that the bridge was constructed during the British era by the then Kolkata Improvement Trust in 1926. It is a reinforced concrete bridge having a 42 meter span three hinged arch with about 12 meter of road width and three meter wide footpaths on both sides. The deck is supported on seven arch ribs bracing with each other. In the centre of the bridge span, the arch ribs merge with the roadway slabs. The bridge deck is supported on columns. The bridge has three ramps on each approach end.
The authorities are also planning short term repair work for Chinrighata flyover and have lined up three more bridges - Bijon setu, Jibanananda setu and Bankim setu for repair and strengthening.
Officials said that Chinrighata flyover was in poor structural condition and needed to be repaired as short term measures to withstand a few more years. In the long run, KMDA plans to dismantle the Chinrighata flyover as a new flyover has been planned from EM Bypass to New Town.
“As for Bijon setu, Aurobindo setu and Sealdah flyover, there are problems of encroachments and temporary settlements below the bridges which will have to be temporarily shifted for repair and strengthening work to be conducted,” said an official.
KMDA is also presently working on major repair work of Baghajatin ROB and has started structural health assessment work of three bridges over Tolly Nullah -- Dhana Dhanye bridge, Kidderpore bridge and Doi Ghat bridge.
