Peenya flyover will open to traffic in February first week

BENGALURU: One of the prominent flyovers in the city, the Peenya flyover, between Goraguntepalya and the Parle toll plaza on the national highway which connects Bengaluru to Goa and Maharashtra, traversing through 22 districts of the state, is likely to open to traffic in the first week of February.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has received the feasibility or fitness report, which was prepared by experts of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on whether heavy vehicle traffic can be allowed on the flyover.

The Peenya flyover was closed to traffic recently for testing of  heavy traffic load after repairs of the steel cables were carried out. It is expected that heavy vehicle traffic will be allowed in the first week of February after the flyover load testing is completed. An expert team of IISc has prepared a report on the fitness of the flyover and submitted it to the NHAI officials.

The IISc experts’ team and NHAI authorities are likely to hold a meeting this week and arrive at a decision on opening the flyover to heavy vehicle traffic.

Dr Chandra Kishan, Professor at IISc, said the restriction imposed on the movement of heavy vehicles since two years is likely to be lifted in the first week of February. Movement of heavy vehicles was suspended due to problems in two pillars of the flyover. The IISc experts detected damaged steel cables laid on the flyover. A report had shown that the cables laid earlier were rusted and that were defective.

“The cable in the pillars got rusted due to water. Now all those old cables have been removed, and new, quality and water resistant cables have been laid, and grease has been applied to prevent rusting. We are confident that any problems can be fixed without stopping vehicle movement in the future”, Prof Kishan said.