Jaraka: Vehicular movement was affected on National Highway-16 connecting Chennai and Kolkata after a huge portion of a bridge near Rasulpur block in Odisha’s Jajpur district collapsed on Tuesday morning.
Fortunately, no untoward incident was reported as no vehicle was passing on the bridge when the bridge caved in.
Sources said, some locals, who were having tea nearby, heard a loud sound and rushed to the bridge. They saw a portion of the bridge had collapsed and immediately stopped approaching vehicles.
Later, on intimation, National Highway Authority Project Director J P Verma reached the spot for inspection. He said, the bridge was constructed around 2008 and is suspected to have collapsed due to structural failure.
He, however, said the exact reason for the collapse of the structure would be known only after the expert team that is coming on July 22 to assess the actual cause gives its report.
After the incident, only one side of the bridge was opened to traffic leading to massive traffic jams. “Another expert team has been called to initiate measures to restore traffic,” Mr Verma added.
