The 18-year-old concrete bridge across the river Kallada at Enathu, near Adoor, on the MC Road, which connects Pathanamthitta and Kollam districts, has been closed for vehicular traffic on the recommendations of an expert team. The team detected serious damage in the well foundation of the second and third piers of the bridge from the Kottarakara side.
The bridge was closed for heavy vehicular traffic from January 10 evening after cracks were detected in the concrete just above its third pier from the southern side. Only light motor vehicles and two-wheelers were allowed to ply the bridge.
Engineers of the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), led by Chief Engineer P.K. Satheeesan, had found the elastomeric rubber bearings padded between the pre-cast beams of the bridge damaged.
On Friday, an expert team led by Dr. Aravind, a retired engineering expert from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, recommended to the KSTP authorities to prohibit all vehicular traffic on the bridge.
The expert team found the second pier from the Kottarakara side slightly shifted and the well foundation of the third pier eroded at the bottom.
Video inputs
The bridge was closed on the basis of a thorough analysis of a video of the bridge piers taken by diving experts, according to KSTP sources.
The repair and strengthening work on the bridge would be finalised on the basis of a meeting of experts convened by Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran in Thiruvananthapuram on February 19, sources said.
Traffic diversion
They said it the bridge strengthening work could take six to eight months. Vehicular traffic has been diverted via Kadambanad from the northern side and from Puthoormukku on the Kottarakara side.
