GUWAHATI: Kamrup district administration in Assam will close the old Saraighat Bridge over Brahmaputra River here for vehicular traffic from February 10 in order to carry out repair works before the onset of the monsoon season.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has devised certain measures to deal with traffic problems following the closure of the bridge.
The N F Railway will facilitate repair of the bridge. The work will be taken up in full swing with round-the-clock working. As many as 80 identified deck slabs of Saraighat Bridge are going to be replaced. After completing the slab, Asphalt layer will be provided over entire bridge after replacing all expansion joints.”
Saraighat Rail-cum-Road Bridge handles a huge volume of road and rail traffic every day. Although the steel girders of the bridge have been constantly maintained as per laid down schedule and works like steel painting, greasing of supports, have been carried out, the road portion could not be adequately attended due to the constant presence of large volume of road traffic, a NF Railway source informed.
For repairing to be carried out vehicular traffic is to be stopped for 90 days, as the process will have multiple stages requiring fixing of new high strength steel and high strength concrete.
The Saraighat Bridge is the first rail-cum-road bridge constructed over the river Brahmaputra in Assam.
The bridge was built by the Northeast Frontier Railway and was completed in 1962. The then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru dedicated the bridge to the nation and formally named it after the Battle of Saraighat on June 7, 1963.