The easiest way to travel around any city is via roads, flyovers and bridges. The network of these interconnected lanes, roads, flyovers and bridges helps us cover distances in a short period of time. Kolkata is probably the only metropolitan city which has lesser travel time owing to the well-planned roads and connecting bridges and flyovers. Despite the high population density, the well-planned roads make it easy to commute compared to other cities. In Kolkata, one such bridge is the Majerhat Bridge. A section of the bridge came crashing down on 4th of September, 2018, triggering shock across the city. Apparently, over 50 years old, the bridge had to be pulled down after the collapse and has been under construction since then.
Majerhat Bridge – A road that connects the South
Majerhat Bridge is located at Majerhat, Alipore, a neighbourhood of South Kolkata. It was a major arterial road (Diamond Harbour Road) in the area connecting the southern suburbs to other parts of the city via Behala. It is also part of National Highway 12. People residing in properties in Behala suffered many travelling issues due to the incident.
Majerhat Bridge Alternatives
The Majerhat tragedy was an unfortunate reality. A lesser-known fact is that immediately after the bridge collapse, Kolkata Traffic Police chalked out effective bypass routes to ease the traffic movements around Majerhat Bridge. The state government even paved a new road and laid out a pair of Bailey Bridges over the Majerhat-Budge Budge railway tracks and a canal to handle the traffic smoothly.
The collapse of Majerhat Bridge proved that contrary to popular belief, there have been many well-established routes existing in the city for a long time to access Behala, Thakurpukur and further south, and Majerhat Bridge was certainly not the only way. The following routes already available were popularised to reach Behala and beyond Mominpur-Behala, Tollygunge-Behala, Chetla-Behala.
A tragedy that could have potentially become a long-term mayhem and blocked access to a highly populated and commercially booming part of the city was in fact dealt with in an impressively short time by the government and police by offering multiple options to commuters. The city motorists could confidently face the task of travelling to Behala and not suffer under the misconception that there are no options.
Majerhat Bridge – Construction Status
The cable-stayed bridge will have the main deck held by 84 cables, which have been brought from Switzerland. The work of erecting these cables began on September 19. The four-lane bridge will have a load-bearing capacity of 350 tonnes against the previous 150 tonnes. The bridge will be the first cable-stayed bridge built over rail tracks by the PWD in Bengal. The whole project will cost about Rs.260 crores and is expected to launch soon, hopefully before 2020 ends.
There have been speculations about the bridge reopening soon. Once the bridge is functional again, travelling towards Behala and other suburbs in the southern part of Kolkata will become much easier for people all over the city. Connectivity will no longer be a concern for people residing in these areas. With the opening of the bridge soon, this is the perfect time to invest in 2BHK or 3BHK flats in Behala. Greenfield City, one of the largest projects in the South is easily accessible by Majerhat bridge. Located near Behala Chowrasta Metro, it is a city within the city with modern amenities and all facilities. To know more, visit https://gfc.greenfieldcity.com.
