Nagpur: The chaos and traffic-jams at busy mid-section of the city could ease as one part of the bridge over Naag river in Ramdaspeth is set to open for vehicular traffic fromThursday onwards. Motorists will start commuting on the bridge after a gap of about two-anda-half years.
With the opening of the newly-constructed bridge the residents of the plush area of the city can heave a sigh of relief though the traffic mess created due to closure of crucial mid-sections in the city, one that of Ramdaspeth and the other one near Panchasheel Square, remains.
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Thursday 20 March 2025
The newly constructed bridge will ease the heavy traffic-jams on East High Court Road junction. Meanwhile, a visit to the site revealed that while the concrete slab and adjoining parapet wall are complete, the entry and exit slopes remain incomplete. The contractor will have to speed up the work as officials of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) had given written assurance about opening the bridge by January end. The contractor’s force was busy giving final touches to the bridge, on Wednesday evening, cleaning the surface to make it ready for vehicular traffic.
For the harried commuters the partial opening of bridge would provide breather from long detour, especially after closure ofWardha Road section, from Panchasheel Square to Jhansi Rani Square. Now, the vehicles would be moving towards Civil Lines and on to North Ambazari Road from Ramdaspeth side too. The parapet wall of the bridge at Ramdaspeth crashed after flash floods in Naag river in the month of September 2022. Incidentally, the bridge life span had already been over and signs of decay was much evident, but NMC bosses ignored the fact. Another bridge over Naag river, near Alankar Talkies Square, too, was dilapidated, but the same was upgraded and rehabilitated in time.
Hence it withered the storm. However, the one at Ramdaspeth made a hole of nearly Rs Eight crore in Nagpurians’ pocket just due to apathy of NMC bosses. To make matters worse, NMC officials of Dharampeth Zone took their own time to float a tender for new bridge. The problem was then further compounded as a telecom tower and electricity distribution box posed hurdle in early start of construction of replacement bridge.
Till the time the two utility were shifted the construction work could not be started and prior to that the slab and remaining parapet wall on other side of the bridge was needed to be dismantled. In the process nearly three to four months were wasted and hence it took so long to construct such a small bridge, indicating that in terms of upgradation of infrastructure city has miles to go.
