Bowstring steel girder RoB to come up at Indrali

The two-lane steel bridge provides the missing link for the 4-lane NH 169A project

An illustration of the proposed bowstring steel girder road overbridge atop Mangaluru-Mumbai railway line at Indrali.

The National Highways Division of the Public Works Department (PWD) has proposed to build a 54m bowstring steel girder road overbridge atop the Mangaluru-Mumbai railway line on NH 169A at Indrali in Udupi.

To be built at an estimated cost of ₹9 crore, the RoB provides the missing link for the four-lane project of Malpe-Tirthahalli NH 169A between Udupi and Manipal. “We have sent the proposal to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and awaiting its approval,” said a senior PWD engineer.

While the four-lane work of the highway between Karavali Junction of Udupi (NH 66) and Parkala off Manipal is almost complete, the RoB at Indrali near Udupi railway station continues to remain two-lane. Road users were put to great hardship to negotiate the narrow stretch riddled with battered approach roads for long.

The engineer said construction of an RoB entails many clearances from the Railways even as the PWD had planned a 33m RoB to match the existing width of the railway path. The department had also got approval for the project to be executed at an estimated cost of ₹6 crore from MoRTH.

However, Konkan Railway Corporation wanted the RoB to cover the entire 48m width of its land so as to facilitate any future expansion of railway lines. Doubling of the railway track on KRCL network was already on the cards. Hence, the PWD proposed a 54m RoB, the engineer said. An estimated 476 tonnes of galvanised steel would be used to erect the bridge with prefabrication. The prefabrication would be done using submerged arc welding process at the workshop itself and the prefabricated material would be dragged 5 metres each day to the position every day once the approval was given.

Concrete would be laid after dragging all the elements to their position parallel to the existing RoB. Abutment work to erect piles for the bridge on both the ends was already complete. All the plans and drawings were approved by the Railways, the engineer said. The two-lane steel RoB would be in addition to the existing RoB, he added.