Residents of Manapparai can finally heave a sigh of relief as the new bridge linking the town with the Dindigul Highway was thrown open for traffic after much delay.
The bridge was one among the many in the State declared open by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa through video conference from Chennai on Tuesday.
Construction of the bridge began in 2012 and had run into several time overruns because of various problems, including land acquisition delays and some delay in completing the Railway portion of the bridge.
The project work had to remain suspended for several months because of delay in land acquisition, until the district administration stepped into speed up the process.
The bridge, built at a cost of Rs. 21.53 crore, provides a link with the Manapparai bus stand with the Dindigul Highway.
The project outlay included Rs. 1.20 crore towards land acquisition. The bridge running for a distance of 557.26 metres had 20 spans each of 16.6 metres long and 12 metres in width.
The bridge would be a vital link for the buses and four-wheelers proceeding to and from Manapparai to Dindigul. Given the frequency of the train services, the frequent closure of the level-crossing had been causing traffic pile ups in Manapparai for long.
Manapparai had only three main roads that connect major destinations — Tiruchi Road, Dindigul Road, and Thuvarankurichi Road, which leads to Madurai and the southern hinterland.
Buses bound for Dindigul, Theni, and Periyakulam do not enter the town at night and offload passengers on the four-lane highway.
Even during daytime, some of the buses bypass Manaparai and those which enter the town take considerable time to reach the bus stand and get out of it. Passengers who are forced to get down on the bypass had to walk three km to reach the town. Two bridges over the railway line and a subway were planned to ease traffic congestion in the town that was notorious for narrow roads.
The administrative sanction for this bridge was given in 2008. The construction of another bridge on the Tiruchi Road simultaneously caused much problems in the town and residents had been eagerly awaiting the opening of the bridge linking the Dindigul Highway.
