Mangaluru: Finally, the National Highway stretch on Shriadi Ghat is open for the public. The concretised road was inaugurated at a programme attended by PWD Minister H.D. Revanna, Housing and UD Minister U.T. Khader, BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and MLAs of the region.
Vehicles queued up at Gundiya Gate (near the Dakshina Kannada border) since Sunday morning and people were seen eagerly waiting to take this route and experience the ride on the newly concretised road. "We want to see how the new road is. We expect to reach Bengaluru early as the entire Ghat section is concerised now," a car driver from Mangaluru said. Vehicles were allowed around 4 pm, after the conclusion of the inaugural programme.
Though the road has been declared open for traffic, the ancillary work like guard walls has not been completed in some of the places and so the movement of heavy vehicles and buses has been banned. All other vehicles including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cars, Tempo Travellers and mini buses are allowed to take this route. Contractor have been asked to complete the ancillary work within 15 days.
The movement of heavy vehicles and buses has been banned as there are chances of accidents in the absence of guard walls. As the guard walls are yet to be constructed in some of the stretches, the vehicles could fall into the gorge or river if they move to the side. Considering all these after a review meeting, the movement of only heavy vehicles and buses on Shiradi Ghat has been banned.
However with this road open, people travelling in private vehicles can travel between the hinterland and coastal districts quickly. The work on the 12.380 km strech between Kempuhole and Addahole (Near Gundiya) has been concretised at a cost of Rs 74 crore. Though the contractual period was 15 months, Ocean Construction completed it in 6 months.
In the inaugural programme, H.D. Revanna said that the condition of Charmadi was not good following heavy rainfall and so the government was under pressure to open the highway stretch on Shiradi Ghat. He said the DPR for the Green Bypass project at Shiradi Ghat that would connect Gundiya (in DK) to Marenahalli (in Hassan) was ready. Revanna asked Nalin Kumar Kateel to take up the project with the Centre as it would further ease connectivity between the coastal district and the hinterland.
