If everything goes well, the district headquarters at Cheruthoni will have the first signature bridge in the State.
The bridge to be constructed across the Periyar on the foothill of the Idukki dam on the National Highway 185 is also aimed at attracting tourists. It will have separate space for the moving vehicles and pedestrians and is expected to be completed in a time-frame.
The bridge is designed in such a way that the history of the Idukki dam would get prominence. There will be two posts on the two sides of the bridge denoting the Kuravan and Kurathi hills, at the two ends of the arch dam.
The new bridge was necessitated, as the traffic had to be suspended for days when the bridge made at the time of the dam construction submerged in the waters during the August flood, said Joice George, MP. The new bridge would have the height to manage the flood waters if released from the Idukki dam, he said, adding the design would in a way ease the movement of the waters.
The signature bridge would be the third one after Goa and Delhi, he said. It would be a tourist attraction, as Cheruthoni witnessed tourist crowd during the festival seasons when the dam was opened for public. The surface of the bridge would be 140-metres-long and 16-metres-wide. The two sides would have walkways. The keeling would be done for a width of 10 metres and separate area of 1.5 metres would be left for movement of small vehicles, he said. The vehicles and walkways would be separated with crash barriers, he added.
There would be two check dams on either side of the bridge. There would also be boat services held for the tourists, he said, adding the design of the dams would be in a way to allow the free movement of the dam waters. When the current bridge at Cheruthony was damaged, a team led by Y. Balakrishna, additional director general Ministry of National Highway had visited the place and held discussions with the State Public Works Department Minster G. Sudhakaran. The cost of the new bridge would be around ₹50 core, Mr George said.