Heavy vehicles ply on old Patripool bridge, cause congestion

The heavy vehicles will be allowed to ply on the new bridge only between 11pm and 5am. However the heavy vehicles are seen plying on the new Patripool bridge, built 15 years ago, throughout the day.

Traffic movement on the Kalyan-Shil stretch was badly affected on Saturday morning as the traffic police closed the old Patripool railway overbridge for the heavy vehicles.

Heavy vehicles are now plying on the new Patripool bridge leading to heavy congestion in Kalyan in Maharashtra. (Rishikesh Choudhary)

The heavy vehicles are now using the new Patripool bridge, leading to congestion across the city.

As per the traffic police notification on July 9, heavy vehicles should be barred from using 104-year-old Patripool bridge. The heavy vehicles will be allowed to ply on the new bridge only between 11pm and 5am. However the heavy vehicles are seen plying on the new Patripool bridge, built 15 years ago, throughout the day.

“The old bridge was declared dangerous by the railways and so we shut it for heavy vehicles. Some of the heavy vehicles are found using the new bridge during daytime,” said Amit Kale, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Thane.

This notification was issued after the Andheri road overbridge collapsed earlier this month.

On Saturday, Maharashtra Navniram Sena workers from Kalyan protested demanding to stop heavy vehicles from using Patripool bridge during the daytime. The protest added to the traffic woes. “It took almost an hour to cross the Patripool bridge. The two-way traffic flow is is causing congestion,” said Rohil Kamble, 34, a motorist who was travelling to Thane through Durgadi bridge.

After the notification, height guards were put on the old bridge to stop heavy vehicles. However, the height guards were damaged after a truck hit it.

“We have asked the MSRDC to do the barricading again and also deploy some wardens to see that heavy vehicles don’t ply on the old bridge,” added Kale.

Deepak Bandekar, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), Kalyan, said that it would take some time for the heavy vehicles to follow the rule.