Disrupted bridges and missed opportunities

We encounter bridges so frequently, and in such diverse variety that we often take these for granted, and do not often pay particular attention towards their existence, leave apart appreciating their role in socio-economic development of our region, and adding comfort, and convenience to our routine lives.

But then, imagine a world without bridges.

But for bridges, our mobility would be severely impaired. We would be confined to certain geographical limits defined by nature; rivers, gorges, and others. We would have literally no interaction with people across the river, leave apart having socio-cultural, and economic relations with them. We would at the same time have no choice, but to travel long distances just to reach the place across the river, and so on.

Development in the field of science, engineering, and technology have made it possible to erect bridges of particularly long spans, and across geographically difficult terrains but bridge building is no new craft, and bridges of different hues, and shades have always been there in one form or the other from the very beginning of human evolution.

Stepping stones that constitute a set of stones arranged to form a simple bridge or causeway as also boardwalks that are elevated walkways built with wooden planks enabling pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy lands or natural watercourses are the earliest bridges built by Neolithic people. Sweet Track, and the Post Track in England, built some 6000 years ago are examples of boardwalks. Intentionally felled trees are however considered the first man-made bridges with significant span.

You may consider it mythology, but Shree Ram built stone bridge across the Palk Strait to reach Sri Lanka.  Moreover, Kautilya’s Arthashastra has mention of dam, and bridge construction. A Mauryan bridge near Girnar that was damaged in a flood, and later repaired by Puspagupta, the chief architect of emperor Chandragupta-I. This bridge was surveyed by James Princep who is credited with deciphering Kharosthi, and Brahmi scripts.

The use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo, and iron chain has been common in India by about the 4^th century. A number of bridges were constructed by the Mughals, and later by the British Raj, both for military and commercial purposes.

The very presence of a bridge often comes to the notice of the masses after these go dysfunctional due to one or the other reason. There have been many such incidences in the past but the details of only a few with some human casualties could be gathered.

• October 29, 2005: A small railway bridge near Valigondato the south of Hyderabad was swept away by flood. Delta Fast Passenger train traveling on it got derailed at the broken section killing 114 people, and injuring over 200.
• December 2, 2006: Collapse of a pedestrian bridge over a coach of an express train near Bhagalpur in Bihar killed 32 people, including 07 women, and 05 children.
• September 9, 2007: A portion of the under construction flyover at Panjagutta, in the busy corridor connecting Begumpet to Banjara Hills in Hyderabad collapsed killing 20 people, and injuring 25.
• October 1, 2008: An under-construction flyover in Lucknow on the Faizabad – Lucknow highway collapsed killing 06, and injuring 25.
• June 10, 2014: Slab of an under construction bridge over the Tapti river near Athwa in Surat  collapsed killing 10, and injuring 06.
• March 31, 2016: 150 m steel span of the under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover in the Girish Park neighbourhood of Kolkata collapsed killing 27 people, and injuring more than 50.
• August 2, 2016: A British era bridge on the Mumbai–Goa highway on Savitri river near Mahad caved in killing 28 persons.
• September 4, 2018: Majerhat bridge, in Kolkata collapsed resulting in the death of 03 people, and injuring at least 25 others.
• May 16, 2018: A portion of an under construction flyover collapsed on a busy road in Varanasi  killing at least 18 people as it crushed a mini bus, cars, and two-wheelers.
• March 14, 2019: A portion of the overbridge connecting north-end of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) railway station to Badaruddin Tayabji Lane in Mumbai collapsed killing 06 persons, and injuring more than 30.

Though not hitting the headlines very often there have been a number of bridge related mishaps in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand as well.

• March 25, 2012: Collapse of an under-construction bridge over Bhagirathi river at Chauraas in Pauri Garhwal killed 06 persons, and injured 18.
• December 14, 2017: Bailey bridge over Assi Ganga on Rishikesh – Gangotri National Highway at Gangori collapsed due to overloading.
• February 1, 2017: A bridge on Seraghat – Madanpur – Naini motor road over Kooler river in Pithoragarh district collapsed due to overloading.
• December 28, 2018: Around 100 year old iron bridge in Garhi Cantt area of Dehradun city collapsed killing 02 persons, and injuring 03.
• June 22, 2020: Strategically important Bailey bridge at Dhapa on Senar Gad on Munsyari – Milam motor road in Pithoragarh district with load carrying capacity of 18 to 20 MT collapsed due to overloaded trawler, and a JCB. This hindered movement of troops, and supplies to the border outposts along Sino-Indian border, and therefore Border Roads Organisation restored the connectivity on war footing. The connectivity was restored on June 27, 2020 in record time of 06 days despite odds of weather, together with material and manpower mobilisation.
• November 22, 2020: An under-constriction bridge on Rishikesh–Badrinath National Highway near Rishikesh collapsed injuring 14 persons.
• June 2021: Recently commissioned flyover on Dehradun – Haridwar highway as also a major bridges on Dehradun– Raipur-Jollygrant motor road were closed for vehicular traffic as the approach road, retaining structures and others were damaged by rains.

Apart from the above a large number of bridges are routinely damaged due to disasters of various sort. In October 20, 1991 Uttarkashi Earthquake Gawana bridge on Rishikesh – Gangotri National Highway, at a distance of 6 km from Uttarkashi towards Maneri, came off the abutments, and fell into the river causing the entire area beyond Uttarkashi to be cut off.

Likewise in 2012 a bridge over Assiganga at Gangori on Rishikesh – Gangotri National Highway was washed off by floods disrupting access to the entire Bhatwari tehsil for a long time.

It is important to note out here that disruption of connectivity during disaster incidences adds to the misery, and trauma of the affected population as relief, and rescue efforts are severely delayed by these.

The foregoing account clearly shows that a number of mishaps, across the country have involved under construction bridges. This suggests omission of engineering, and safety norms, and the same could also be the cause of the failure of some newly constructed bridges.

It is therefore required that stringent procedures be put in place for the monitoring, and supervision of all major construction works so as to ensure adherence to prescribed engineering norms, together with material quality, and workmanship related aspects. At the same time the agency undertaking the construction should be mandated to follow standard safety norms, and have a clear plan for emergency situations. Detailed SOPs with simple checklists should therefore be put in place, and responsibility of the lapses resulting in life threatening situations should clearly be fixed.

In the state of Uttarakhand a number of accidents have taken place due to overloading. It is important to take note of the fact that most roads in the remote Himalayan region were constructed immediately after independence, and the bridges constructed therein adhered to the vehicular traffic requirements at that time. Despite the scenario having changed it is difficult to replace all these bridges overnight.

It is therefore required that the load bearing capacity as also vulnerability of the bridges, particularly the ones constructed long back be assessed, and traffic on these be strictly regulated so as to do away with the chances of overloading related failures. It needs to be clearly understood that mere putting up of signboards is not going to stop such accidents. Provision of manual gated entry to the bridges should therefore be resorted to.

It is important out here to take note of the vulnerability assessment study carried out for 10 important bridges of Garhwal Himalaya by Prof. C.V.R. Murty of Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. This study is based on site specific studies as also site specific acceleration spectra, and on the basis of  Level 3 assessment Prof. Murty has highlighted the need of putting in place a Bridge Safety Assessment Manual that takes care of (i) bearing connectivity, (ii) sufficiency of bolts, (iii) sufficiency of the seat, (iv) lateral force capacity of supper structure, and (v) presence of lateral restrainers.

It is important to take note of the fact that most places in the mountainous areas generally have single access, and in case the same is disrupted due to some reason large geographical area is cut off from the outside world, and the affected population has to face shortage of essential supplies. The affected population is at the same time denied assess to various welfare services, and particularly health, and maternity relief facilities. As the economy of many mountainous regions in hugely dependent on tourism, disruption of surface connectivity deprives people with economic opportunities. Economic hardships of the masses are further aggravated as find it hard to transport the horticultural produce to the market.

To add to it the Himalayan roads provide connectivity to the strategically important Sino-Indian, and Indo-Nepal border, and are frequently utilised by armed forces for various purposes.

It is therefore highly important to pay particular attention towards ensuring surface connectivity in the Himalayan region during all times, and conditions. For this (i) maintenance of old bridges, (ii) ruling out overloading, (iii) adhering to the prescribed SOPs for construction works, and (iv) phased replacement of old bridges could be resorted to.

It is highly important to pay their due share of credit in the growth, and development of the region to the bridges, and take proper care of their welfare so that these continue to serve us uninterrupted, and always.