The 3rd Mandovi bridge construction is already leading to traffic congestion on the NH17 in front of the new secretariat and Legislative Assembly in Porvorim where the contractor L&T have appropriated 7.5 meters from both the up and down carriageways. This constriction in the traffic movement has led to queues forming on both sides of the road particularly during office hours. As time goes by and the construction of the bridge progresses, it is anticipated that there will be more and more obstructions to traffic flow for people wanting to get into and out of Panjim city from North Goa. This is being stated since the 3rd Mandovi bridge is understood to be planned with a 4-lane carriageway and what construction is currently underway is only to build the pillars on which the whole carriageway would rest.
Thus, you could imagine that on an existing 4-lane highway another 4-lane carriageway is being constructed which by all logic will completely cover the bottom road. When the contractor, L&T launches the girders to support the 4-lane carriageway on top and build the road surface, the people traversing below on the existing highway will surely be at risk. All this is being stated since no alternate traffic plans have been announced for the public to understand how they would have to go into Panjim and out of it as the construction of the bridge progresses.
In the absence of this information it would be correct to assume that people travelling on the existing highway will be at great risk when the carriageway of the 3rd Mandovi bridge is being built. This is more so since there is news that one of the bridges designed by the principal consultants for the 3rd Mandovi bridge, S N Bhobe has collapsed in Gujarat. With confirmation also by GIDC that the 3rd Mandovi bridge design has not been vetted by an independent structural consultant, the fears sound real. It is therefore very important that the government, its arms like GIDC and the contractor L&T take public into confidence about how the bridge construction will progress and what are the plans for handling traffic during each of these phases of construction.
