Crawford bridge to be ready in January

It will be opened for light vehicles in the first week next month

HURDLES IN THE WAY: The Highways Department has expedited the work on construction of the road overbridge at Crawford although all the utliity lines, including the electric poles, have not been shifted. Photo: A. Muralitharan

Highways Department has expedited work on construction of the road-over-bridge at Crawford and has planned to throw the bridge open for light vehicles during the first week of January.

Senior officials of the department said the work, being executed at a revised estimate of Rs. 46 crore, suffered a setback for various reasons, including delay in acquiring land and shifting the utilities. The work was taken up about three years ago and the length of the bridge is 700 metres.

“There was some delay in shifting the utilities, mainly because of acquisition of land. A majority of about 25 streetlight poles had been shifted so far and only a few of them needed to be shifted,” said the source. The Highways Department had made arrangements for payment of money towards acquisition of land and the bridge would be open to traffic for light vehicles in the first week of January. The work suffered another setback at the limited use subway (LUS) in the area. The work at the LUS was expected to be completed by the end of January, the source added.