Bihar: Restricted entry of heavy vehicles on three bridges

PATNA: The state government has allowed restricted entry of heavy vehicles on J P Setu , Koilwar bridge and Mahatma Gandhi Setu on the Ganga from Wednesday night.


Trucks will be allowed on J P Setu from Patna side from 10pm to 5am, but the restrictions will remain on heavy vehicles coming from Sonepur to the state capital.

However, the trucks coming to the J P Setu will be stopped near Bihta at 2am to avoid congestion on the bridge and traffic snarls in the state capital during morning hours.

Similarly, trucks will be allowed on the Koilwar bridge from Ara side to Patna, but not the vice versa. Instead, the heavy vehicles can use the Sahar bridge and further Veer Kunwar Singh Setu in Bhojpur to go to Chhapra side.

Also, empty trucks will be allowed from Hajipur to Patna via Mahatma Gandhi Setu. But no heavy vehicles, whether empty or loaded, will be allowed on the bridge from Patna side.

Transport secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said the pontoon bridge parallel to Gandhi Setu will also be opened from Thursday for light motor vehicles from Patna to Hajipur and vice versa.

The decisions were, in fact, taken at meeting chaired by chief secretary Deepak Kumar on November 14 in the wake of around 40km-long regular queues of trucks along the southern and western periphery of Patna.

“The new measures will ease movement of all kinds of vehicles in and around Patna and save fuel as well as time for motorists,” Agarwal told TOI.

The movement of heavy vehicles carrying sand and stone aggregates on the dilapidated Mahatma Gandhi Setu and JP Setu had been prohibited since May last year. This led to long queue of trucks on the approach roads to other bridges, including newly constructed Ara-Chhapra bridge or Rajendra Setu at Mokama.

Truck owners and drivers have welcomed the relaxation in heavy vehicles movement on the bridges. “At times, trucks used to stand in 20 to 25km-long queues ahead of the bridges and took 10 days to cross over. It was severely affecting trade of commodities. The new regulations on bridges are thus a welcome move,” said Bhanu Shekhar Prasad Singh, president of Bihar Truck Owners’ Association.

Patna district truck owners’ association president Dhananjay Kumar also welcomed the move. “Around 3 lakh trucks passing through Bihar were being affected by the snarls every day. The demand for movement of trucks from JP Setu was made by our association only and we are glad that the state government agreed to it,” he said.

New regulations on bridges

J P Setu: Loaded as well as empty trucks allowed from Patna towards Sonepur from 10pm to 5am; however, no heavy vehicle to cross the bridge from Sonepur side

Koilwar bridge: Heavy vehicles to come from Ara to Patna side but not the vice versa; heavy vehicles from Patna side towards Ara to use Sahar bridge

Mahatma Gandhi Setu: Empty trucks from Hajipur side allowed, but no heavy vehicles, including trucks, to cross the bridge from Patna side

Pontoon bridge: Parallel to Gandhi Setu will be opened on Thursday