BENGALURU: Traffic on Brigade Road, which was closed after a sinkhole developed on Thursday near Vellara Junction, injuring a biker, the Ashok Nagar Traffic Police opened the road for vehicular movement after 20 hours of the incident.
On Friday morning, Kala Krishnaswamy, DCP, Traffic East, visited the spot. Namma Metro engineers assured that adequate safety measures have been put in place after the night long soil test, and after that, vehicular traffic from Dairy Circle was allowed on this stretch at 10.15 am.
A Metro engineer at the spot said that M20 concrete material was used to fill the sinkhole opposite Brigade Towers near Vellara Junction on Thursday, and the material took 10 hours to settle in.
“At midnight, equipment and machinery were used to mark seven places around the sinkhole and a drill test was conducted to check the condition of soil. There was no loose soil and the decision was taken that the patch work was safe. In the morning the traffic police department was asked to allow vehicles,” said the BMRCL site engineer.
Confirming the same, BMRCL MD Anjum Parwez said that holes of around 2m radius were made near the sinkhole. “It’s all done and now we are focusing on the TBM to reach its destination opposite Johnson Market in 10 to 15 days,” he said.
The patch work area was barricaded and the traffic police was asked to close the stretch for vehicular movement for 20 hours which might have resulted in the material coming off.
At present, the engineer said that the Tunnel Boring Machine ‘Lavi’, which has tunnelled from MG Road side cut the rock opposite the Brigade Towers, was drilling 30m below the All Saints Bakery.