Summary:
When Majerhat bridge was being built (construction started from January, 1962) and thrown open to public on September 30, 1964, around 34,000 vehicles would use it. Hence, PWD undertook the study on the number of vehicles plying on Majerhat bridge to assess the sharing potential of the new flyover.Last Friday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the entire span of Majerhat bridge will be pulled down and a new one will be built within a year. Before the structure fell, around 1 lakh to 1.2 lakh vehicles used to ply on it regularly.“Seventy years later, the vehicular count on the bridge should be around 2.7 lakhs. So the new structure must be wider, and stronger,” said an official.The figure was arrived at based on a 2017 study on cars and buses plying on Majerhat bridge, ahead of the Garden Reach flyover inauguration in March this year. The original width of the bridge can’t be retained because it won’t be able to accommodate such huge number of cars, buses and trucks..