Mangaluru: Heavy goods vehicles' movement banned on Kulur bridge

MANGALURU: Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S on Tuesday issued an order banning movement of heavy goods vehicles (bullet tankers) along the old arch bridge across the Phalguni river at Kulur.
Noting that the arch bridge was quite old, the DC under powers vested in by the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 ordered for diversion of such vehicles along alternate routes till such time that a new bridge alongside is not constructed and opened for traffic.
Accordingly, bullet tankers proceeding from Udupi to Bengaluru and those coming to MRPL from Bengaluru have to traverse via the Padubidri-Karkala-Guruvayanakere-Dharmasthala-Kokkada-Periyashanti route. Bullet tankers coming from Kerala towards Udupi should traverse via KPT-Kavoor-Bajpe-Kana-Surathkal to reach MRPL. Lorries, buses and tankers should traverse via the adjacent one-way two-lane bridge in a two-way manner.
Light motor vehicles including cars, jeeps, tempos, auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers will use the one-way two-lane arch bridge to commute. The deputy commissioner told the project director, NHAI to set up necessary cautionary and direction signs for the benefit of motorists.
Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on March 5 had laid the foundation stone for the construction of a new six-lane major bridge across the Phalguni at an estimated cost of Rs 65 crore. The new bridge will be of 174-metre length with four spans of 32.50m and two spans of 22 metres and have the main carriageway of 3 lanes each and a service road bridge of 2 lanes after dismantling the existing arch bridge.