TIRUCHY: Outliving the design life of close to a century, the middle portion of the old steel bridge in Kollidam river got washed away due to the strong currents in the early hours of Sunday after its 18th and 19th piers weakened. Hundreds of city residents flocked to the new Kollidam bridge and the vicinity was populated since early Sunday morning to see the old bridge with the middle portion out of sight.
The steel bridge across Kollidam was built in 1928 after an older bridge there was washed away by the great floods of 1924. Since the recent large outflow of water from Mukkombu, the Kollidam’s old steel bridge was in the news after a portion of the pier developed cracks and started to cave in. There were fissures in the 18th pier which was the main reason for the age-old bridge to get collapsed.
M. Sivanandhan, a garment presser in the locality, said he heard some noise of locals late night on Saturday. As he went near Kollidam, he witnessed the portion of the old bridge crumbling and submerging inchmeal into the strong currents. “After some time, there were no traces of the pillars that was submerged as everything went under water,” he said in awe. Many people rushed to the bridge in the night to the new bridge after an update on the damaged bridge flooded social media and WhatsApp.
The steel bridge was abandoned ever since the new bridge was inaugurated and all type of traffic including pedestrian movement was stopped since 2016. A few days ago, both the entry points were closed with brick walls to avert any danger and keep people from entering it.
The regular traffic flow in Kollidam was hit on Sunday with residents thronging the bridge to click pictures of the old bridge. A huge posse of police was deployed to direct the traffic and also to keep a vigil of the huge crowd that milled in.
K Balaji, a private employee said he had come there after a video clip on WhatsApp of the old bridge collapsing. He said, “I had been seeing the old bridge ever since my childhood and even took a walk on it many times. It is so tragic that one among the oldest structures in Tiruchy has got damaged.”
However, many people thanked the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa for taking necessary steps to construct a new bridge parallel to the old one.
The project costing around `78 crore was announced in 2012 and the new bridge inaugurated on February 14, 2016. It is now assumed that the 20th pier of the old bridge is likely to collapse with the unabated water flow in Kollidam river.