Peenya flyover in Bengaluru likely to reopen to heavy vehicles in Feb

Bengaluru: The Peenya flyover in northern Bengaluru will likely reopen to heavy vehicles in February after a gap of more than two years. 

The 15-metre-wide, 4.2-km-long flyover on Tumakuru Road has been shut for buses and trucks since December 2021 after prestressed cables in its three spans gave way due to corrosion. The closure has seriously affected vehicular movement on the road below, causing daily traffic jams. 

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last year launched a Rs 38.5-crore repair work to add two cables into extra slots at every span and stress them to strengthen the flyover. With 120 spans in the flyover, the NHAI has added 240 prestressed cables. 

The NHAI shut all vehicular movement on the flyover from 11 pm, January 16, to 11 am, January 19, to conduct load tests on the 240 prestressed cables. During the load test, eight trucks carrying 32 tonnes each were stationed on two spans connecting pillars 105-106 and 117-118. 

"The load test results are satisfactory and the report has been sent to the NHAI headquarters for further necessary action," said Prof Chandra Kishen JM, from the civil engineering department at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), who heads a four-member expert committee on the flyover. 

According to Prof Kishen, the committee members and NHAI officials will likely meet on February 2 to discuss the report and decide on allowing heavy vehicles back onto the flyover. 

Vilas P Brahmankar, the NHAI's Bengaluru Regional Officer, told DH that the test results were "positive" and that the flyover would reopen to heavy vehicles "soon". 

While no date has been fixed, heavy vehicles may start using the flyover in early February. 

KB Jayakumar, the NHAI's Bengaluru Project Director, said the decision about allowing heavy vehicles would be taken after reviewing the replacement of existing cables. 

The committee has suggested that the NHAI replace all 1,243 prestressed cables so that corrosion doesn't affect them in the future. The work entails de-destressing, removing and replacing the cables. In engineering, stress refers to the external force applied to an object. 

The cables broke because of corrosion, which in turn happened due to the ingress of moisture and sunlight. The committee suggested giving four layers of protection to the cables (galvanising, greasing, epoxy coating and sheathing), according to Prof Kishen.