Chiriaiyantand railway overbridge dedicated to people

Patna, May 3 (UNI) Bihar's unique link, the Chiriayatard bridge, second of its kind in the country, to ease traffic of this capital was today opened for public following a ceremonial function presided by Road Construction secretary R.K. Singh.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar who was scheduled to attend the function did not come due to demise of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan in Mumbai.

The bridge connects the residential locality of Kankarbagh and bussiness and administrative centre of Patna.

The four-lane project worth Rs 62.15 crore would be completed by 2007. The two-lane link was thrown for the public use today while the remaining two lanes would be completed by next year.

The bridge built with 'cable stayed' technology had been imported from Germany while quality test of the cable was conducted in Switzerland.

Twenty two cables had been used for completing two lanes.

According to technical experts of the railways, functioning of the bridge would be monitored through a computerised system. While 45 per cent of the load will be given on the cables in the beginning for easy traffic movements on the bridge. The railways would reserve the remaining 55 per cent load capacity to meet any emergency due to the increasing traffic load, the experts added.

UNI/XC/DH PC RD 2147