Ezhupunna bridge commissioning on December 15.

The much-delayed Kumbalanghi-Ezhupunna bridge that will link West Kochi with Ezhupunna in Alappuzha is taking final shape and its commissioning is scheduled for December 15.

Approach road tarring work will begin shortly. Once commissioned, commuters from Kumbalanghi and nearby places could reach Ezhupunna without travelling extra distance through the busy NH, a PWD engineer associated with the work said.

Commuters had to either travel the extra distance through road or take a ferry to reach Ezhupunna.

The two-lane bridge has a 7.50-metre carriageway and 1.50-metre-wide footpaths on either side. The bridge, which was to be commissioned in 2006, suffered delay because of problems associated with land acquisition and subsequent litigation. Still, a few motorists used to take the risk of commuting through the bridge despite shabby condition of approach roads.

Work resumed after a few more cents of land was acquired for the approach road. The pending work of the 150-metre bridge was tendered early this year for Rs. 1.06 crore.



THE HINDU
The bridge was built using conventional slab technology by PWD (Roads and Bridges wing), Alappuzha. “MLAs representing the two regions and NGOs played a key role in removing bottlenecks to bridge construction,” sources said.