Decades-old steel bridge across Ponnai river in Tiruvalam restored

VELLORE A month-and-a- half of restoration work of the old steel bridge across the dry Ponnai river,

A month-and-a- half of restoration work of the old steel bridge across the dry Ponnai river, a tributary of Palar, in Tiruvalam near Katpadi has been completed and opened up for traffic.

Built in 1939, the Rajendra bridge, which is maintained by the State Highways Department, is 464 metres long and 7.5 metres wide — enough for two buses to ply at the same time. Officials said the bridge was damaged due to continuous movement of vehicles and heavy rain during last December.

As the bridge connects Vellore and Ranipet districts via Katpadi, the repair work was taken up on a war footing. Damaged concrete materials and protruding corroded steel rods from the joints on the bridge were removed. Heavy steel plates with cement concrete mix were used to strengthen joints. Fresh bitumen was also laid on the carriageway of the bridge to provide evenness. The entire repair work was done at a cost of ₹20 lakh under the special works scheme.

“All vehicles, including buses, are allowed on the restored bridge. However, we are monitoring the movement of joints along the bridge for a few days to assess its stability,” said R. Poovarasan, assistant engineer, State Highways Department.  

S.S. Saravanan, divisional engineer and R. Sugathi, assistant divisional engineer, State Highways Department, inspected the bridge.

A railway bridge across Ponnai river in Tiruvalam was also damaged due to last year’s rain. The bridge, located on the Arakkonam-Katpadi section of Chennai division of the Southern Railway, was built in 1865. It connects Tiruvalam and Mukundarayapuram railway stations. It was restored a few months ago, officials said.