Inauguration not possible as mishap on Wild Life Over Pass forces MSRDC to delay inauguration of Nagpur-Selu Bazar segment.
@the_news_21
Mumbai: The much-anticipated inauguration of the first stage of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg has been postponed by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The inauguration had to be postponed as one of the arches of the Wild Life Over Pass which was supposed to have been completed by April 30, suffered some damage.
The first segment between Nagpur to Selu Bazar was due to be inaugurated soon. However, in a statement issued here on Monday, the MSRDC announced that the inauguration of the expressway stretch is being postponed as the stretch cannot be thrown open to the public as completion of the Wild Life Over Pass is vital for the safe and easy passage of wild life in the area.
The 701 Km Nagpur-Mumbai super communication Greenfield expressway has been christened as the ‘Hindu Hurudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg.
The structure of the Wild Life Over Pass is based on Arch type. The work was supposed to have been completed by April 30. Out of the 105 Arch Strips some strips suffered some structural damage. After due consultations with the experts and it was decided to reconstruct the damaged structure anew. This work will take another one and half months to complete.
The MSRDC statement adds that until and unless the Wild Life Over Pass is not completed, the expressway stretch cannot be thrown open to the public.
The Wild Life Over Pass technology has been in use in many developed countries like the USA, Japan and in Europe. The technology involves construction of arch type bridges over the highway, expressway or road that intersects the usual track that the wild life uses to cross-over. The architecture of the bridge is designed in such a way that the wild life cannot distinguish the elevation in their usual track. The bridge is replete with trees, foliage, stones, soil, urine and animal dung markings.
Besides the Over Pass, there are Under Passes also built for large animals like Elephants to pass underneath the main highway or railway line. In Japan, there are turtle tracks laid underneath the bullet train tracks so as to allow the turtles to pass through unhindered. It is a technology that has, according to some experts, solved the environmental issues surrounding major infrastructure projects like highways, high-speed rail and other infrastructure projects.
There have been several instances in India as well where wild life, mostly elephants have suffered fatal injuries crossing railway tracks while being hit by speeding trains. Wild life like elephants never change their usual track of commute from one place to another.
