KOLKATA: Engineers constructing the 1-km-long arm connecting the west-bound flank of Maa flyover with AJC Bose Road flyover finished putting up the longest span of girders between two piers running above Syed Amir Ali Avenue near Park Circus early on Tuesday.Though motorists seem to count the days for the two flyovers to be connected, ensuring a snarl-free drive from E M Bypass to near Rabindra Sadan , engineers claimed the entire stretch would not be ready before December. They, however, pointed out that the most challenging part of the ramp, that of erecting a 44-metre-long span of girders, had been completed.“We had put up one half of the girder on Friday night. Early Tuesday, we put up the other half, finishing the initial phase of the work on the longest span between two piers. As of now, the girders are resting on an iron framework in the middle of the road, which we will remove once the bracing work on the two girders is over in 10 days,” said a senior official of construction agency HCC, which is executing the project. The official said only four more piers along Circus Avenue were left to be erected and more than 60% of the work on the deck slab was over. “We have finished putting up 29 piers, finishing the pier work along Congress Exhibition Road , Syed Amir Ali Avenue and Nasiruddin Road. Pier construction is left only on a stretch of Circus Avenue. The deck slabs have also been built on 60% of the structure. But it being monsoon , it is affecting the pace of work,” an engineer overseeing the project said.Engineers said the next tricky part was the construction over Circus Avenue and a small portion over AJC Bose Road. “The challenging will be the arm’s left-turn curve at the intersection of Nasiruddin Road to Circus Avenue. Finally, there will be the two ends of the arm, one joining Ma flyover and the other AJC Bose Road flyover,” an official said.The view of steel girders running above Syed Amir Ali Avenue from in front of Quest Mall connecting Nasiruddin Road and Congress Exhibition Road, however, excited motorists on Tuesday. “Seeing the ramp running over the main road near Quest Mall, I assumed the construction was almost over. I even stopped to ask a policeman on EM Bypass if the ramp would be opened in a couple of months. The officer said he had no such news,” said Satish Agarwal, a Salt Lake resident, who saw the girders while driving along the east-bound arm connecting Ma and AJC Bose flyovers on Tuesday.The under-construction ramp, which is expected to cut down on commute time considerably between Bypass and Rabindra Sadan and reduce jams at Park Circus Seven Points, was earlier slated for opening before the Pujas. But given that the HCC is allowed to work only from 11pm to 6am, the progress has been slow.

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