The first span of the 425 m-long and 12-m wide flyover at Mele Pazhavangady across the arterial road to link the Power House and Thakaraparambu roads was cast on Saturday.
The 25-m span, the first of the 12, was cast on Power House Road, speeding up the construction of the Rs.37-crore flyover that got delayed over the shifting of the 700-mm and 375-mm pipelines of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA).
12 spans
In all, there will be 12 spans for the flyover — five spans of 25 m, six of 30 m and one of 40 m. Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL) — the concessionaire of the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP) — is building the flyover that will have full-length grade separators.
“The initial target of 22 months had been missed. Even though the 375-mm pipeline had not been shifted, we have decided to go ahead with the casting of the span”, TRDCL vice-president Anil Kumar Pandala told The Hindu .
The second span will be cast on June 5 and the aim is to cast a span every 15 to 30 days. Three piles were completed near the second entry of the Thiruvananthapuram Central station when Chief Minister Oommen Chandy laid the foundation stone for the flyover in April last.
The project authorities were able to complete only 30 of the 60 piles so far as the work got delayed over the shifting of the utilities. The work of the remaining piles will begin again by June 5 as the KWA has communicated that orders had been issued to shift the 375-mm pipeline next week.
A building on the left side of the entrance to Thakaraparambu Road also had to be demolished. Four days are needed for the construction of a pile. Along with this work that will stretch to a minimum of 120 days, the work of the pile cap will also be taken up to save time.
The number of piles had been reduced from 83 to 60 and the length from 510 m to 425 m to ensure smooth flow of traffic towards Sreekanteswaram and to protect fort walls.
The ramp for the flyover will begin from near the second entry of the railway station and near the RKV bus depot on the Thakaraparambu road on the other end. It will be a three-lane bidirectional road.
“If there are no further hitches, the flyover will be completed in August 2014,” Mr. Pandala said.
The flyover, the second under CRIP, will be part of the first intermediate ring road along Vellayambalam, Thycaud, Choorakattupalayam, Power House, Thakaraparambu, Vazhapalli, Pettah, Nalumukku, Kannammoola, Law College, PMG, LMS, and Museum Junctions.
