The recent 10-day total lockdown helped the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) complete a crucial span of the viaduct over the Nashik Phata flyover in Pimpri Chinchwad.
Making good of the lockdown opportunity, MahaMetro finished over 80% of the work of laying girders between Pimpri and Phugewadi. An official from MahaMetro said they had never planned to complete this section so fast, and that things just fell into place.
“A lot of things has to click, the pre-fabricated segments must be on-site, as must the girders. All of this was already in the pipeline and it just so happened that a big part of this section could be completed during the lockdown. It wasn’t preplanned,” the official said.
The work was particularly challenging because this was a high-density traffic corridor that connects Nashik Phata to Pimple Gurav and beyond.
“The installation of these two spans was completed within the shortest possible duration. During the launching of each 40 metric-tonne segment, the utmost precaution was taken, considering the traffic below,” MahaMetro said in a statement.
The work was completed in two phases. “Firstly, segments were installed on the lane going toward Pimple Gurav and then, the launching girders were moved to the second leg going toward Nashik Road,” MahaMetro said.