Plan to build new bridge across Kudamuritti to be submitted soon for government sanction

The State Highways Department is likely to finalise soon the estimate for construction of a new bridge across Kudamuritti River at the starting point of Tiruchi-Karur Highway in the city.

The bridge across the river, close to its confluence point with the Cauvery in the city, has grown weak over the years and turned into a traffic bottleneck.

Amid a clamour for construction of a new bridge, as was proposed several years ago, Tiruchi MP Durai Vaiko on Saturday inspected the bridge along with senior officials of the Highways Department.

A day earlier, he presented a memorandum to Minister for Public Works and Sports Development Aadhav Arjuna, seeking early sanction of the new bridge proposed at an estimate of ₹25 crore. He pointed out that the important bridge, which connected two bridges, had a width of seven metres and was unable to cater to the increasing traffic.

Built by the British in 1924, the narrow bridge became inadequate to handle the growing traffic. Some years ago, the Highways Department even put up a signboard asking motorists to ‘go slow’ as the bridge was in disrepair. With a police checkpost and town bus halts located close to the bridge, traffic snarls were a frequent occurrence.

The Highways Department planned a new bridge across the river at a cost of ₹15 crore as part of the strengthening of the 11-km-long Tiruchi-Thindukarai stretch of Karur highway under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme 2019-20. Subsequently, it decided to take up the construction of the bridge as a separate project and a detailed project report was prepared.

The plan was apparently put in cold storage as an elevated corridor was proposed to be built between Chinthamani and Mallachipuram in the city. The corridor would run over the Kudamuritti bridge. But the department was still awaiting administrative sanction for the project, which effectively left out the early plan to build a bridge across Kudamuritti in the limbo.

Mr. Durai Vaiko told The Hindu on Saturday that the officials of the Highways Department had assured him that the drawings for the new bridge would be finalised within a couple of days and the proposal would be submitted to the government for administrative sanction soon.

“The project does not require any land acquisition. Only some encroachments need to be removed. I expect the new bridge to be sanctioned soon. The existing bridge will be repaired and retained,” he said.