The bridge project, 26 kms from Chennai, has been prioritised as it lies across the National Highways Authority's ambitious four-lane Golden Quadrilateral that links Chennai with Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi and Calcutta.

The bridge, known as the Gateway to the North, provides a vital link to Chennai with Calcutta on NH 5 through Nellore and other towns in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. But the Karanodai link, marked by heavy traffic of about 850 light commercial vehicles, 5,250 buses and trucks, and 2,000 cars and vans a day, was restored to traffic in three months with the construction of a Bailey bridge over the three spans which collapsed.

When the Karanodai project agreement wassigned in New Delhi on Oct 28 last year by the Union Ministry of Surface Transport, it was stipulated that the work should begin within 90 days from the date of the contract.

The project, to be executed in three parts simultaneously, has been awarded on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis with the condition that the new bridge should be opened for traffic by January 2001.

The contractors will hand over the old and new bridges to the Highways department after nine years, 11 months and 16 days (inclusive of the two years of construction). Toll collection will be the only component for the developers to recoup the cost of construction and maintenance.

The first part of the project relates to repair and construction of the existing diversion road as a pucca road conforming to national highway standards. The work has to be completed in a month. When the pair of bridges is thrown open for traffic in two years, the diversion road will be abandoned.

As the second part of the project, the Baileypart of the two-lane Karanodai bridge with 7.5 metre width will be removed and the three spans length restored to the original concrete shape. There will be no traffic on the 355 metre long bridge until the repair and reconstruction work gets completed by July this year.

The 387 metre long new bridge that will run parallel to the old bridge will have 11 spans facing a four-lane approach road on either side. After completion, the two-lane new bridge will bear one-way traffic from Chennai side while the old bridge will accommodate traffic from Nellore side towards Chennai.