Kollidam flow damages girders of new bridge

A new bridge across the Kollidam to link Kilikoodu, in Tiruchy district and Koviladi, in Thanjavur district was being built across the Kollidam by the Highways Department (projects) at a cost of Rs 67 crore. The facility was announced by the former CM Jayalalithaa at the Collector’s conference in December 2013. 

The erection of piers for the 1-km structure, which will have 24 spans with a total width of 12.90 metres and a carriageway with a width of 10.50 metres, on the river bed was nearing completion.

As a part of the work, the PWD had widened the left bank of the Cauvery to the Grand Anicut from Tiruchy to an extent of 10.5 metre from the existing 5.5 metre.

In recent days, the Kollidam was flowing full due to the discharge from the Mettur dam, which attained its full capacity owing to continuous and heavy rain in Karnataka. Following the heavy flow in the river, the regulator on Kollidam at Mukkombu in Tiruchy collapsed. While the officials took nearly a month to repair the damaged regulator, the heavy flow had also affected the bridge under construction across the Kollidam near Grand Anicut. As a result, as many as 35 girders erected for the bridge had developed cracks and work has been suspended.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a team of experts, led by C Natarajan, Professor, Department of Civil, NIT, Tiruchy, along with the research team and the PWD senior officials conducted a detailed inspection during which it was found that eight girders were totally damaged. 

The team also had planned to conduct an ultrasonic test for the other existing girders after which a recommendation would be submitted to the PWD.