John Wilbert
Port Blair, July 08: As works for the construction of two crucial bridges of Middle Andaman started post lockdowns, now authorities are expecting that works for one of two crucial bridges of Middle Andaman, the Humphrey Strait Creek Bridge will be completed by January 2021.
Since 2017 works for two major bridges of Middle Andaman, Humphrey Strait Creek Bridge and the Middle Strait Creek Bridge are being planned and executed in phase manner by Government of India, connecting two major creeks of Andaman Trunk Road.
Although for various permissions and other reasons the works for Middle Strait Creek Bridge have been delayed but the works for Humphrey Strait Creek Bridge, being carried by National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), progressed satisfactorily till the Lockdowns for COVID19 began.
“80 percent of the works related to the bridge is already over. We are expecting that all works will be completed by December 2020 and within next one month, by January 2021 the bridge will be ready for operation,” Mr. Dilbhag Singh Dhanda, General Manager, NHIDCL told Andaman Sheekha today.
As per details available from official sources, the bridge has a navigational span of 1.45 Km with clear water gap being 445 mtrs. The structure has a bridge over the water channel and two viaducts on the home and far banks. The bridge in all has 26 piers.
The clear height of the bridge above high tide level has been kept 22.1 mtrs. The navigational span for vessels is between piers 8 to piers 10.
The bridge will have a carriageway of 10.5 mtrs width with two footpaths of 1.5 mtrs each on both sides for pedestrians.
At presently, the work on the piers and the viaduct on Uttara jetty side has been completed and the launching of segmental box girders is underway.
Once completed, the bridge will connect Gandhi Jetty to Uttara Jetty and fulfill the long pending demand of the residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
