Mangaluru: The Shiradi ghat road which was supposed to have shut down completely will be inspected and kept partially open if possible. District In-charge Minister Ramanath Rai convened a district-level meeting on Shiradi concrete works and advised against complete shutdown of the hilly stretch connecting Bengaluru and Mangaluru.
The meeting with district authorities and the officials of National Highway Authority of India, Public Works Department and others was conducted at the DC Office on Tuesday, November 1. Ramanath Rai gave his words of appreciation to experts who gathered at the occasion for being present at short notice on Kannada Rajyotsava.
The experts along with Deputy Commissioner Dr. Jagadeesha will be visiting Shirady ghat to inspect the roads and come to a conclusion if one side of the road can be let out for traffic while the other will be repaired. The repair of critical sections of the stretch however will render the road closed for a maximum of a month’s time.
Ramanath Rai said that it would be a major public inconvenience if the road would be completely shut. “There is no other place in the world where a national highway is closed down for repairs. Shiradi road is the shortest route for Mangaluru to Bengaluru. Complete shut down of this road and diversion of traffic through Madikeri will increase the distance between the cities by 60 kilometers”, he said.
Ramesh, Executive Engineer of National Highways said that there will be problems for strength of the road if traffic is allowed to flow on one side while construction of road on the other side happens at the same time. “We can finish the concretization either by closing down the ghat road and finish on a fast pace or first finish the non-critical sectors while keeping one side traffic open and then close down traffic for a month and complete the critical sectors”, he said.
“As an alternative for Shiradi, traffic will be diverted to Sampaje, Bisale and Charmady”, Ramesh added.
The conclusion of the meeting was to inspect the road and see if LMVs can be allowed on one side of the road while it has been decided to not let heavy vehicles on Shiradi while concretization is being worked on. Heavy passenger vehicles will be allowed through Bisale ghat and heavy cargo vehicles will be going through Sampaje- Madikeri road.
