Work to construct two-lane bituminous road at Chakki Mor NH05 begins (original) (raw)

A 240-metre patch of the National Highway at Chakki Mor had caved in recently following incessant rainfall. (Express Photo)

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Work to construct two-lane bituminous road at Chakki Mor NH05 begins

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The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday started theprocess of making a two-lane bituminous road, consequent to which the Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway, NH05, will remain closed for all types of vehicular traffic at Chakki Mor from 11 pm to 1 am on Monday.

The NHAI has set a target to complete work by October 15, but the road is likely to only remained closed on Monday night.

Recently, a 240 meter patch of the National Highway at Chakki Mor had completely caved in following incessant rain in Himachal Pradesh. The highway was later reopened for all types of vehicular traffic, after a temporary D way was created by cutting the hill side. The stretch of highway at Chakki Mor however, continued to remain in a pathetic state. It was only after a bunch of senior officials of the NHAI visited the site recently, that a target to complete a two-lane bituminous road at the site was set for October 15.

Talking to The Indian Express, Balvinder Singh, the project manager of GR Infra, the company that has constructed the Parwanoo Solan four lane said, “The national highway at Chakki Mor will be closed for all types of vehicular traffic from today (September 11) night, so that the process of concrete cladding on the hill side can be started.The traffic at night time is otherwise very thin, so that is the right time to start work. We would be first clearing all the debris from the hill side so that the temporary D way can be widened as far as possible.

This would give us the working space that is required for the process of concrete cladding, which is a slope strengthening process, and will help prevent further landslides in the area. It would also help in strengthening the hill area so that there is no scope of any road cave-ins there”.

An official of the NHAI , requesting anonymity, said, “We have a target to complete the process of making a two-lane bituminous road at the existing temporary D way at the Chakki Mor site by October 15. But before that there is a process of widening the D way by removing fallen debris after which the concrete cladding work would be done. Though efforts are being made to complete the cleaning of fallen debris by tonight itself. In case it is required, then the road may be closed tomorrow night also”.

He further added, “Once the working space gets available, the traffic will continue and our work on concrete cladding will continue without disturbing the traffic further. Tonight the work of clearing the debris will take place so that the movement of vehicles carrying essentials in the morning is not affected”.