Coimbatore Corporation has initiated the process of having a high-level bridge across the River Noyyal at Puttuvikki. As and when the bridge is completed, which is easily a year away, traffic congestion at Athupalam is expected to come down.
Sources in the civic body say that they have readied the tender document for the bridge, estimated to cost around Rs. 2.25 lakh. The Corporation Council accorded the approval for replacing the causeway with a high-level bridge, as in Athupalam, in October-November last year.
The decision was in keeping with the people’s long-pending demand for a bridge across the river as the causeway remained underwater during heavy flow in the river and was unable to handle the traffic, given the battered surface.
The bridge will measure nearly 80 m in length, 8.6 m in width and 5.2 m in height (from the sill) and would have nine spans.
The sources say that Corporation obtained the administrative sanction from the office of the Commissioner for Municipal Administration and the technical sanction from the Technical Committee. There was delay in according the sanction because of the change in schedule of rates.
Within a fortnight or month of closing the tender, the Corporation would be able to award the contract. And the contractor may take up to eight months to a year to complete the work. During the execution of the work, the Corporation will provide an alternative path for road users to cross the river.
N.G. Prabhuram, a Kuniamuthur resident, says that once the Corporation throws open the bridge for vehicle movement, people from areas north of Ukkadam can easily reach Kuniamuthur and Palakkad Road by avoiding Ukkadam. People from the southern side of the city can also easily go by using the bridge and driving through Selvapuram.
He says that the Corporation should also ready the road along the Kuniamuthur canal for further easing vehicle movement in Ukkadam.
