Goraguntepalya flyover on Tumakuru Road, which had been closed for over 50 days for safety reasons, was finally opened for motorists on Wednesday evening. However, entry will be restricted to light motor vehicles such as bikes, cars and auto-rickshaws. Heavy vehicles including trucks and buses have to continue to use the main lanes under the flyover for the foreseeable future.
The police, on Wednesday evening, had put up signages and barricades and were allowing vehicles only on the Nelamangala side. “We will open the other side to traffic by Wednesday night,” said a police personnel monitoring vehicle movement at the spot.
The decision to allow light motor vehicles was taken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) after experts from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) who were conducting load testing gave the green signal.
The flyover was closed for traffic in December 2021 after NHAI found fault in cables in two spans of the 5km flyover during a routine check. Some of the cables had corroded. Initially, authorities had hoped to fix the problem in a week, but that did not happen. It took the NHAI 53 days to repair and conduct the tests.
During this period, traffic was thrown out of gear with motorists forced to spend hours stuck in traffic on the busy Tumakuru Road that connects Bengaluru with more than 20 districts across the State. The inordinate delay in reopening the flyover was raised by the JD(S) MLA Manjunath in ongoing Legislature Session.
“As per the stand taken by the NHAI, light motor vehicles are now allowed on the flyover. We have also taken measures to put signanges on the flyover as it had remained closed for a long time,” said DCP West (traffic) Kuldeep Kumar R Jain.
No structural flaws found in the flyover: IISc expert
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s statement on the floor of the House on February 15 that poor construction was the problem gave rise to speculation on the safety of motorists.
Prof Chandra Kishen J. M. from the Civil Engineering department of IISc who conducted the tests put to rest apprehensions surrounding the flyover. “Load testing results showed that light motor vehicles can be allowed on the flyover. This will help to decongest the stretch,” he said, adding that a decision on opening it to heavy vehicles can be taken after carrying out various tests for a period of six to nine months. This includes material testing, chemical analysis, structural analysis and others. “Corrosion in the cable could happen for various reasons. We did not find any flaws in the construction of the flyover,” Mr Kishen said.
