A gaping hole appeared again on the Summanahalli flyover in the Outer Ring Road in Bengaluru sparking panic among commuters on Tuesday, September 20. The flyover connecting Mysuru Road to Tumakuru Road was barricaded on one side after traffic police were alerted.
While the structure of the flyover remained stable, cement pieces crumbled and fell down on the road below, creating a hole big enough that one could see the road below. The flyover is 12 years old, having been completed by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in 2010. However, it was handed over to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) around 2015.
This is the second time a hole has appeared in the flyover after a similar issue in 2019 when a patch of the flyover had given way. In both the incidents, the metal rods held together but the cement had crumbled leaving a hole in the flyover.
Rajesh MR, a resident of Magadi and frequent user of the flyover, said he's scared to use the bridge as it may collapse anytime. "The damage looks severe and it is unsafe to travel. Commuters must avoid taking children on this road," he told Times of India.
BBMP officials said that this is not the same patch that was developed in 2019, but a different one on the same flyover. Repair work will begin from September 22 and traffic flow from Nayandahalli to Laggere will be impacted till the work is completed.
A notice issued by the BBMP stated that, “Pre-cast pre-stressed concrete (PSC) girder and slab construction technology has been used to build the flyover. The holes formed have been seen on the Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) slab. The work was taken up after Bureau Veritas and Binyas Contech Pvt Ltd examined and advised that PSC was safe. It is only the RCC slabs that were dilapidated.”
Prestressed concrete (PSC) girders are concrete sections forming a boxed shape, supported by prestressed strands which are widely used for highway and railway bridges.