The Future Of Travel

Over the last couple of years, especially in Mumbai, the BMC has issued orders to raze down certain bridges and repair several flyovers as they have been found unsafe.

Considering some of the recent tragedies, it's time that authorities concerned with such projects no longer hand them out blindly, but scan the contractor's history to know whether the company is fit to construct such vital assets. Importantly, there are steps and aspects of load testing of various types of superstructures, along with some cautionary measures and points to ponder upon by the designers, site engineers, and testing agencies.

The ministry of road transport and highways has planned to include construction of flyovers and underpasses early in the life of a highway project rather than tagging them at a later stage, as it tries to make dangerous Indian roads safer.

It is also looking to make installation of CCTVS mandatory at the construction stage itself to monitor the progress of highway projects as per specifications and terms of agreement. A proposal to include construction of underpasses and flyovers at the DPR stage is being considered for uninterrupted flow of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic for every village and town near a highway as well as at accident-prone junctions.

NHAI have been laying special emphasis on the use of new material, technologies and methods for construction of projects. Project provisions encourage the use of such new and alternative technologies and NHAI has been facilitating their use. The technology in construction of bridges varies from project to project, basis the requirement as per the DPR.

MEETING HALF WAY