In a bid to improve traffic flow, the Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport Project (KSUTP) has started building two grade separation interaction bridges at Teku and Dallu in the Capital.

The grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes to prevent disruption of traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other.

According to the KSUTP, a four-lane bridge at Teku will be 60 metres long and Dallu will have a 35-metre two-lane bridge. The project has been funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Implementation chief of the KSUTP Suraj Sigdel said the bridges would cost an estimated Rs220 million. Chinese contractor ZIEC and

Nepali contractor Pappu Construction have been working since October last year.

“Now the work is going smoothly and both the bridges will come into operation at the end of this year,” said Sigdgel.  

None of the existing old bridges will be destroyed, said project officials. “These are the sections of the roads that have heavy traffic. The additional bridges will ease the traffic movement without interruption,” said Project Manager at the KSUTP Deepak Shrestha.

Together with the Tripureshwor-Kalanki road expansion drive under the Kathmandu Valley Road Implementation Project (KVRIP), the new bridge at Teku is expected to mitigate traffic congestion in the area. The project under the Department of Roads will widen the existing 12-metre road to 23 metres which includes a footpath and cycle lane on either side.

However, the long-planned expansion of the two bridges over Bagmati and Dhobikhola rivers along the Tinkune-Maitighar road stretch in the Capital has yet to take off. The DoR had announced that the two bridges would be expanded by October 2015. Although the road stretch was expanded to eight lanes four years ago, the two-lane bridges have been the cause of traffic jams.