An eminent road safety and infrastructure expert in a letter written to the Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has expressed concern at distressed bridges in the country especially in the states near Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the North East states including the Shillong by-pass bridge in Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya also popularly known as Dwar Ksuid bridge.
“At present major bridges including Shillong by-pass bridge are lying in distress with no immediate solution along with sub-optimal bridges on the entire stretch up to the LAC restricting the movement of military hardware of defence services to LAC which is a major constraint in providing national security,” said K K Kapila, an eminent road safety expert and former co-chairman, FICCI Infra Committee.
“The Shillong by-pass bridge has been in distress since October 2020. Heavy traffic has to be diverted through Shillong city. No permanent solution is in sight for the next two years. A bailey bridge launched as a temporary solution is not permitting the required loads and was also in distress, barely a month after it was launched,” Kapila said.
In a letter to Gadkari, Kapila said there is an absolutely inescapable necessity to replace the existing bridges by new generation modular bridges with capacity to take the load of 70R, and with sufficient width for two way movement, which are capable of taking the entire defence hardware up to the LAC.
“Kindly direct the concerned people to look into the new generation bridges, and act on war footing to procure them, so that this unfortunate situation of not being able to move the military hardware, is resolved on an emergent basis, lest it is too late,” the letter said.
Kapila who is also President Emeritus, International Road Federation, said axle loads and volume of traffic have increased over the years making two lane and Class 70 R loading, a minimum requirement for National Highways (NHs).
“If a bridge fails, we are forced to downgrade the capability to single lane and accept reduced loads, as low as 18 tons on NH, which remains so for years thereafter,” Kapila said adding that in the past few months, at least four such bridge failures have been witnessed which has left the capacity of these sections of NH heavily downgraded.
“Specific to the Shillong by-pass bridge, the super-structure is in distress. The piers have shown no sign of tilt or cracks and can be utilised with specified refurbishment, which will take about three months. If we replace the superstructure with an ACROW design modular bridge, it can be launched in two weeks. Being much lighter, it will subject the piers to less than 40 per cent of the present load resting on the piers. This will ensure a safe, quick and permanent solution, meeting the requirement of two lanes and 70 R loading, with walkways for pedestrians. The alternative of launching a new bridge will take at least 18 months to two years,” he said.
Kapila said that ICT, an infra consultant company, has experience in launching such new generation quick lay bridges. He cited the launch of such a bridge at Sonprayag under World Bank funding after a bailey bridge was washed away in March 2016.
“The Shillong by-pass bridge is a good opportunity to try this bridge and open the road in about four months to full capacity. It will save both time and cost. Added value is the convenience and commercial savings to the locals besides assisting the movement of troops, so very necessary in the present context. A plan to stock more such bridges needs to be looked at post haste, followed by manufacture in India, within the next two/three years. It is time to try this new generation bridge for early opening of the Shillong by-pass as well as all the way to LAC,” Kapila added.
