Heavy vehicles may soon be allowed to traverse the Peenya flyover in Bengaluru, with restrictions imposed during nighttime hours. Professor Chandra Kishen J. M., leading a four-member expert committee from the civil engineering department at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), stressed the importance of these restrictions to mitigate vibrations during ongoing cement grouting works.
The committee, tasked with assessing the flyover’s condition, recommended prohibiting vehicle access between 11 pm and 6 am, pending a final decision on these timings. “The flyover is currently closed to traffic (light vehicles) at night. We want the same arrangement to continue,” Professor Kishen stated.
Collaborating with the traffic police, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is determining the specifics of these timings, according to Professor Kishen.
The 15-meter-wide, 4.2-kilometer-long flyover on Tumakuru Road has barred buses and trucks since December 2021 due to corroded prestressed cables, leading to daily traffic congestion.
NHAI initiated a repair project worth Rs 38.5 crore last year to strengthen the flyover by adding two cables into extra slots at each span and stressing them. With 120 spans, NHAI incorporated 240 prestressed cables.
In January, NHAI conducted load tests on these cables, temporarily closing all traffic on the flyover for 60 hours. The results were satisfactory, as confirmed by Professor Kishen.
In March, NHAI began replacing over 1,243 prestressed cables to prevent future corrosion, involving dae-destressing, removal, replacement, and cement grouting, estimated to take nine months to one year. Vilas P Brahmankar, NHAI’s Bengaluru Regional Officer, affirmed the flyover’s certification as “technically sound” and awaits the traffic police’s response to develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for permitting heavy vehicles.
