Skewed bridge: To be or not to be made motorable?

Srinagar, Dec 16: For the last one year, the authorities have been indecisive whether or not to reconvert the pedestrian bridge over Jhelum near Presentation Convent School into a motorable one.

Traffic advisor Anuj Malhotra, in mid this year,had asked the then government to make the foot-bridge into motorable, in order to reduce the traffic flow on Abdullah bridge.

Malhotra had even sent a detailed report to the former Governor N N Vohra but the change of guard halted the process.

Talking to the Kashmir Monitor, Traffic advisor Anuj Malhotra said that the authorities are “still considering” the recommendations put forward by him.

Malhotra said the conversion of the foot-bridge would ease the flow of traffic on Abdullah bridge to a large extent.”

“A detailed report was compiled by me along with the faculty members and students of National Institute of Technology (NIT).The report was sent to Governor N N Vohra. I even discussed the matter with the former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti,”Malhotra said.

The foundation and piers of the bridge were laid as per the normsset for the motorable bridge.

A survey conducted by the RITES revealed that the opening of bridge for vehicular traffic would help in reducing the traffic load on Abdullah bridge which frequently witnesses traffic jams especially during the peak hours.

The J&K chapter of the Institution of Engineers India (IEI) had also pitched for making the bridge motorable, stating that the government’s move to convert it into a pedestrian bridge would result in waste of money.

Engineers from various developmental sectors had also recommended a motorable bridge as per the original proposal.

They said that it should be constructed with a soffit level of 1589 metres instead of 1590.30 meters.