Jaipur: Commuters travelling from Ajmer Road to Sodala are likely to face inconvenience, as the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) will start repair work on Sushilpura Puliya from January 20 midnight.The civic body will change the expansion joints of the flyover and the work is expected to continue for 20 days. The work will be carried out in phases and initially, JDA has decided to close vehicular traffic on the stretch which connects Ajmer to Jaipur. Once one stretch of the flyover would be completed, the civic body will close the traffic going from Jaipur towards Ajmer Road.An official said, cars and other four-wheelers going from Vaishali, Ajmer Road could take an alternate route through Hasanpura via Queen Road to avoid inconvenience. “As many colonies have been developed on this route, warning has been issued to avoid this route during the time maintenance work is done. Request has been made to the traffic department to deploy personnel on alternate route such as Janpath and New Sanganer,” the official said.Following the recommendation of the Rajasthan State Road Development and Construction Corporation, that constructed the bridge in the year 1998, the JDA initiated the work, after the life of elastomeric bearings and the ‘angle and plate’ expansion joints was exhausted.A senior JDA engineer said, “The cover plates of the expansion joints, in due course, got corroded and displaced. The joints that were supporting flexible movement got filled with bituminous material. As a result, it choked the movements in the bridge and caused stress in the girders and slabs.”Explaining the necessity of bearings and expansion joints, an engineer explained that a bridge is supported by a pile foundation and further piers are raised over the foundation. This sub-structure part supports the girders and slab (super-structure) of the bridge over which the traffic flows. There is an interface between the sub structure and the super structure, where bearings are fixed. Further, a bridge comprises of several spans and each span rests on two piers. “A pre-stressed concrete bridge, when experiences heavy-moving traffic, it undergoes a number of movements. These movements are part of the working mechanism and the engineers provide bearings and expansion joints to facilitate these movements.”

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