17 days after opening, approach road to Rs 16-crore Dehradun bridge caves in | Dehradun News
DEHRADUN: Continuous heavy rainfall since Monday night damaged the approach road to the newly constructed Rs 16-crore bridge over the Tons River at Nanda Ki Chowki in Prem Nagar, disrupting traffic on the Dehradun–Paonta Sahib Highway just 17 days after the bridge was opened.The bridge, inaugurated on July 12 as a replacement for the one washed away in last year’s monsoon, remains structurally safe, officials said, clarifying that only the approach road had caved in.Dehradun district magistrate Ashish Chauhan said the district administration’s 24×7 control room had already been activated in view of the heavy rain and reinforcement teams were rushed to the spot.“The bridge itself is intact. The damage has occurred to the approach road leading to the bridge, and restoration work is already underway,” Chauhan said.The damage disrupted traffic between Dehradun, Vikasnagar and neighboring Himachal Pradesh, forcing authorities to begin restoration work immediately.The new bridge had been built at a cost of Rs 16 crore after the previous bridge at Nanda Ki Chowki collapsed in September last year, killing 14 people, when the swollen Tons River overflowed during heavy rain, cutting off a key link on the Dehradun–Paonta Sahib highway.Following last year’s collapse, authorities had installed a temporary Hume-pipe bridge to restore connectivity, but that structure also gave way after a dumper truck attempted to cross it, prolonging disruptions for commuters, students and businesses in the area.The replacement bridge, constructed by the Public Works Department with funding from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), finally opened to traffic on July 12 after missing its original completion deadline.The latest damage comes amid persistent monsoon rainfall, though officials stressed that the bridge structure itself has not suffered any damage and repairs to the approach road are in progress.
