Umiam bridge repair work to finish in four months

SHILLONG, Feb 6: The Umiam bridge repair project is expected to take another three to four months for completion, the state government said on Tuesday. In the interim, a coordination committee meeting with representatives from the various line departments is being held to finalise plans to close the bridge entirely or raise a portion of it for repair.
“We need to make some calls among ourselves first. We are working and have asked the company to provide a rough date. The Transport department, MeECL, and the police make up the coordination committee. We’ll take a call on lifting of the dam,” Power Minister AT Mondal said.
He said that although there were fewer bow drills available earlier, more have since been acquired, which should speed up the repair process even though it will still take three to four months to finish.
“On the day the bridge will be lifted, traffic will be halted for four hours; we will go for a complete closure when the bridge is lifted to the required position,” he said, pointing out that only small vehicles are currently allowed to ply.
“To enable the passage of small vehicles, not surpassing the vehicle’s gross weight of 4 metric tonnes, we will install rams on both sides of the bridge,” he continued.
“Similarly, on the day we lower the bridge after replacing the bearing, no vehicles will be allowed to pass through the dam for almost four hours,” he continued.
“It is the only road and traffic is there and some are taking a detour,” he said in reference to the alternate route, pointing out that traffic congestion is a constant problem even on regular days and that it will undoubtedly persist now that repairs are under way and the route is only one way.