KOLKATA: It’s good news for people living in Alipore and New Alipore. The Bailey bridges linking the two areas — and the alternative road that was being used while the new Majerhat bridge was being built — are likely to be closed after Thursday. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is due to inaugurate the new bridge that day.
A portion of the old flyover across Eastern Railway’s Sealdah-Budge Budge rail tracks collapsed on 4 September, 2018. A new cable-stayed bridge has now replaced the old one.
For the last two years, vehicles have been plying through the double carriageway the state public works department (PWD) had built as an alternative to the south Kolkata lifeline that linked the city centre with New Alipore, Behala and beyond. The new road — a southward extension of Alipore Avenue — runs across a boat canal and the rail tracks to the east of Majerhat bridge.
For the new road, ER had to install a temporary level-crossing next to it to allow vehicles to pass through the rail tracks. Since new level-crossings are banned across India and the old ones are being increasingly closed to minimize accidents, Railway Board gave permission to use it till October, 2021, assuming the new bridge may be built by this time. But there was a rider. “The level-crossing must be closed as soon as the new bridge is commissioned,” a state official told TOI. Without the level-crossing, the road, which includes two Bailey bridges, linking Alipore and New Alipore, automatically falls defunct.