Barriers on bridge over Cauvery removed

The cauvery bridge ,VITAL LINK Constructed at an estimated cost of one crore, way back In 1976, the Cauvery Bridge connects Srirangam with the city, besides providing connectivity to Thiruvanalkaval and Chennai Trunk road. The bridge, standing on 14 segments, stretches up to 540 metres in length across the Cauvery River, and accommodates a 15-metre wide road, connecting Srirangam with the mainland. It also has 2-metre wide pedestrian pathways on either side.

INSTALLED with much fanfare a few months ago, State Highways department on Tuesday removed the crash barriers put up for a distance of 180 m on either side of the Cauvery bridge. As a first major renovation attempt in the past 20 years of the forty-year-old bridge, in 2015, works were carried out at an estimated cost of 0.75 crore on the Cauvery Bridge. A crash barrier provision, to ensure the safety of pedestrians using the pathway, was a demand for decades. Paying heed to this demand, in September 2016, the State High-ways Department had installed crash barriers of 180m length of the total 540m long bridge, close to Melachintamani end. As the crash barriers recently installed in Septe-ber 2016 were actually relocated from the dismantled Thiruvanaikaval Road Over Bridge, which was replaced with a new road over bridge by the Highways department. Locals had been seeking the entire stretch of the bridge to be installed with barriers to ensure the safety of pedestrians and also hawkers, who make pavements their homes during night hours. However, on Tuesday, contrary to the interests of the locals, work-ers associated with the Highways Department started dismantling the barriers on both sides of the bridge. "We have been pressing for the entire stretch of Cauvery Bridge to be covered with protective barriers in the road safety meetings held regularly. If the crash barriers are being re-moved, the highways department should install a permanent facility instead," M Sekaran, Member of the Road Safety Council told Express. Owing to the safety feature, Cauvery Bridge used to be thronged by groups of locals during evening hours, particularly near the protected area to spend.
Source: epaper . new indianexpress.com/c/2030