BHUBANESWAR: The National Highways wing of the Works department is racing against time to complete the construction of the Malatipada road over bridge (ROB) on NH-316 to ensure seamless movement of vehicles carrying lakhs of pilgrims to Puri during the upcoming Rath Yatra.
Principal secretary (Works) Sanjay Kumar Singh inspected the project on Thursday, reviewed the bow string girder installation and assessed the remaining work needed to complete the ROB.
Official sources said earlier it was scheduled to complete the bow string girder by June 15 and deck slab casting by June 20 but two more bow string girder spans are yet to the installed.
Singh directed officials of the National Highways wing and the executing agency to expedite all pending works. He instructed them to immediately take up the launch of the remaining two bow string girder spans after the scheduled inspection by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) on Friday.
He also stressed the need for simultaneous execution of other components of the project, including casting of crash barriers, laying of bituminous and concrete pavement on the approach roads, installation of expansion joints and completion of ancillary works to ensure timely completion.
Officials said the works are going on in full swing to ensure that service roads on both sides of the ROB are completed and made traffic-worthy before Rath Yatra. The state government has decided to add two service lanes on both sides of the four-lane Bhubaneswar-Puri stretch of NH-316 for smooth movement of traffic to the coastal town.