Underpass fails rain test

Underpass fails rain test
Bangalore, dhns:
One heavy downpour and the underbelly of the much-hyped Cauvery Junction underpass was exposed.


The surface of the underpass approach road caved in due to loose soil structure and heavy rains. The cracks that developed on Thursday triggered panic among road-users and forced the police to ban traffic movement for hours.
Wednesday night’s heavy downpour was apparently the culprit. But it eventually turned out that the space between pre-cast elements and the embankment was not properly filled up.
The incident came to light around 12 noon and the BBMP higher ups and the traffic police were immediately alerted. The police banned the traffic movement, while the BBMP officials rushed to the spot with JCBs and other machinery to repair the bridge.
Heavy rains on Wednesday night and a drain pipeline a few yards from one side of the underpass made things worse. The soil mixed with the water had dipped into the space between embarkment and elements leading to the cracks on the surface.
A BBMP Engineering section official said the surface of the approach road caved in due to loose soil structure and heavy rains. The Palike took up immediate measure to restore the road for traffic. Neither pre-cast elements nor the underpass were affected. He had predicted such an incident on the day when the underpass was dedicated because of loose soil structure. The space was filled up with WMM (wet mixed macadam), he said.
Chief Engineer (Major Roads) K S Krishna Reddy said as soon as the Palike was informed, engineers rushed to the spot and made all arrangements to fill up the gap. The underpass was intact and it was wrong to term the project as a failure, he claimed.
The police had banned traffic movement on the left side, from Bhashyam Circle to Palace Road, and under the bridge, for nearly three-and-half hours. The road was thrown open for traffic movement around 4 pm. Traffic movement on right side and on Palace Road was not affected, the police said.