GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad Development Authority has finally decided to construct a new bridge over the Hindon river , more than a year after the old structure was declared unsafe and closed to traffic after its pillars developed cracks.The GDA has assigned the task of constructing the new bridge to UP State Bridge Corporation at an estimated Rs 16.5 crore. Sources said the bridge was likely to take around a year to complete.“It’s final. The UP State Bridge Corporation will construct the new bridge over the Hindon. The GDA was earlier toying with the idea of undertaking the job itself,” said VN Singh, chief engineer at the GDA. “The corporation has sought a year’s time to complete the project. According to the work schedule, it will take three months to demolish the old bridge, four months for laying the foundation, two months to prepare the sub-structure and three months more for constructing the super structure,” he added.The six decades old, 180m-long bridge, which connects the trans-Hindon areas, was declared unsafe and closed to traffic on June 27 last year after a portion of its left flank sagged. “The new bridge will be three lane. Work is likely to start in October,” Singh said.Observers, however, sounded an alert that the GDA’s dilly-dallying on who would take up the construction will have a bearing on the traffic once the Dilshad Garden-New Bus Stand metro line is opened later this year. As of now, there are three bridges over the Hindon. But barring the new one, which connects Vasundhara via an overbridge, the other two are narrow and witness frequent traffic snarls.

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