Incomplete bridge construction at Manali leaves motorists in agony

CHENNAI: With work on construction of a bridge across Buckingham canal on Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti road remaining incomplete for over 6 years, residents of Manali are forced to take a longer route to reach their offices and colleges.

The work to replace a twolane bridge with a four-lane began in 2016 but it’s dragging on even after the completion of the main bridge portion on the Buckingham canal. The approach to the bridge has not been completed much to the anguish of the local people.

“People travelling by two-wheelers are using the temporary mud ramp on the bridge to go to Tiruvottiyur side. But those travelling by the bus are using the Buckingham canal bund road, which is a long detour between Manali and Tiruvottiyur,” Mahalingam, a resident of Manali said. “The government must complete the bridge work at the earliest to provide us relief.”

Sources in the Highways department said that the delay in construction of the approach to the bridge was because of issues in the widening of a culvert.

“There’s a culvert on the Manali side of the bridge. Only if it’s widened, we’d be able to construct the approach. CPCL’s pipelines were going beneath the culvert and initially, the company offered to widen the culvert on its own. But now, they wanted us to do the widening work as a deposit work and they agreed to pay the required amount. Once the pipelines are shifted, we’ll take up the culvert work. We’re hoping to complete the bridge work by September this year,” the sources added.