The construction of a wider ramp that will connect Cossipore Road with Tallah bridge and ensure that goods vehicles don’t come in the way of movement of vehicles from Shyambazar towards Dunlop and vice-versa will begin from December.
An arm of the old Tallah bridge used to bring in goods vehicles, including lorries and trucks, from Shyambazar mostly to the railway yard situated in Chitpore.
This was a small structure that would barely hold vehicles in two lanes. Besides, every time a truck moved in and out of the railway yard loaded with goods, it would impede the north-south traffic movement on the old Tallah bridge.
The new Chitpore ramp would be wider and longer. It would allow a free left turn from the Shyambazar-end for goods vehicles like the AJC Bose ramp towards Sealdah.
“Vehicles moving out of the yard would have to take a separate route so that they don’t come in the way of vehicles moving between Shyambazar and Dunlop along the main trunk of the Tallah bridge,” said a senior PWD engineer. “We are working with the police to finalise the blueprint of traffic circulation for these goods vehicles.”
The construction work of this Chitpore ramp was stuck for sometime with 38 railway quarters falling on the alignment.
On Friday, a team of senior PWD officials led by Onkar Singh Meena, the department’s secretary, met their counterparts in the railways to discuss the problem points.
“The railways has decided it will clear the quarters and relocate the occupants to alternative accommodation by November. By mid-December, the work on this Chitpore ramp will begin,” said a railway official.
The state government has already released Rs 11 crore for the rehabilitation project and railway officials said they would take up the work of vacating the quarters within the next few weeks, after the Pujas.
The new ramp would be 9m wide and would have a divided carriageway with no provision for the two-way movement of vehicles.
The work on the Cossipore ramp will continue along with that of the main Tallah bridge and given the existing pace of work, the new bridge would be ready for traffic by end-April or May, officials said.
“The railway officials said clearance from the commissioner of railway safety (CRS) for launching girders on the portion above the railway tracks would reach by November,” the PWD official said. “If the agreed timeline is adhered to, then the construction work would be completed within the next seven months.”
