Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Monday opened the final stretch of 2.7km of the Western Bypass, constructed to decongest Margao town, for traffic. Around 1.2km of the stretch of the four-lane bypass is constructed on stilts. The estimated cost of this final stretch of the western bypass is Rs 166 crore. The Union ministry of road transport and highways will reimburse Rs 126 crore, while the state govt will bear the remaining Rs 40 crore.
The Union ministry sanctioned the construction of this road project in March 2015 at a total cost of Rs 298.3 crore. The work involved construction of a four-lane new bypass for NH 17 around Margao. Though the work started in Dec 2015, local protests forced the design to be revised. Accordingly, the ministry revised the cost of the project to Rs 354.4 crore in Nov 2016.
The entire bypass is 11.9km long. The remaining stretch now opened for traffic is on the Benaulim-Mungul-Seraulim stretch, spanning around 2.7km.
“Of the final bypass stretch now inaugurated, the main elevated structures on stilts were erected and placed on four brackets fixed temporarily on a pier. The first time such a technique was used in Goa.
The bridge was rested on a pile foundation of 17-27m depth with a diameter of 1.2m of piles. The entire structure was precast and prestressed. The road overbridge was steel-fabricated in Gujarat. The road overbridge was designed as per railway protocol and erected under the guidance of an expert from the railways,” said an official.
The Western Bypass project starts at Nuvem and passes through the villages of Seraulim, Benaulim, Telaulim, and Navelim, and areas of Margao. The other parts of the western bypass were also opened earlier for use. The final stretch will now decongest the Margao and Navelim areas. The western bypass is part of a bigger plan to decongest traffic along the Karnataka-Maharashtra national highway.
