TIRUMALA: The ghat road leading to Tirumala from Alipiri will be reopened for pilgrims on January 11. The 17-km road was damaged at nine places in landslides following heavy rains that lashed Rayalaseema in December last year.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) had diverted vehicular traffic to Tirumala through the link road to undertake repair works. The repair works of the road and re-laying of bitumen have been completed. The TTD has spent `3 crore on the road repairs.
The trial run on the road will be conducted on Monday. Initially, the TTD will allow two-wheelers and four-wheelers on the road. Buses and heavy vehicles will be allowed after further strengthening the damaged places of the road, which may take at least 20 days, officials told TNIE. The TTD had adopted shotcrete technology to complete the ghat road repair works by Vaikunta Ekadasi (January 13) for the 10-day Uttara Dwara Darshanam.
New tech used for road repairs
Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala attracts thousands of devotees for Uttara Dwara Darshanam every year. For repairing the ghat road speedily for the 10-day fete, the TTD has used Shotcrete technology. Shotcrete is a cement-based mixture pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a receiving surface.
The technology was used at a couple of severely damaged places with the help of experts from Uttarakhand. “The ghat road repairs and strengthening works have been executed as per the advice of IIT experts,” said TTD Chief Engineer Nageshwar Rao.