Bitumen peel-off to save bridge in Calcutta

Layers of bitumen will be scraped off the surface of Tallah bridge after a preliminary survey by the PWD revealed that they may be compromising on the load-bearing capacity of the structure.

Patchwork repair, which involves piling a layer of bitumen, is common on city roads.

When Majerhat bridge collapsed on September 4 last year, a report by Devendra Narain Singh, the institute chair professor with the civil engineering department, geo-technical engineering division of IIT Bombay, had revealed that the bituminous coating on the bridge had more than trebled over half a century, the additional weight possibly proving too much for the bridge to bear.