Daijiworld Media Network-Mangaluru (RJP)
Mangaluru, Dec 21: The Shiradi Ghat stretch of Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway will be closed for vehicular traffic from January 3, according to officials of National Highways division of the state Public Works Department (PWD).
The closure will be for four months to facilitate completion of road concreting work.
A 12.5-km stretch in Sakleshpur taluk will be closed for traffic to complete the concrete road. This will be the phase-II of the Shiradi Ghat reconstruction work taken up to build 26 km of concrete road along the Shiradi Ghat stretch on National Highway 75.
The phase-I of the package covering 13 km was completed in August. The cost of second phase is said to be Rs 90.27 crore.
The second phase of work comprises construction of a concrete road between Kempuhole bridge and Addahole bridge and asphalting 21 km of road between Gulagale and Heggadde in Sakaleshpur taluk.
Project contractor - GVR Infra Projects Ltd - has been set a deadline of April 15 to complete the work so that the stretch is open to vehicular traffic before the onset of the monsoon. Work on 73 small bridges is already under way. The contractor has so far procured 60% of the raw materials including sand, cement and gravel required for the road works, it is gathered.
As many as seven alternative routes have been identified to facilitate vehicular movement between Bengaluru and Mangaluru once the Shiradi Ghat stretch is closed, PWD officials disclosed.