Source : PTI | The Bihar Road Construction Department (RCD) has directed officials to carry out ‘safety inspection audit’ of all road over bridges (ROBs) on highways in the state and construct crash barriers on a priority basis to check incidents of vehicles passing through bridges falling on railway tracks. The Engineer-in-Chief of the Road Construction Department, Sohail Akhtar in a letter to all chief engineers of the department has directed them to carry out ‘safety inspection audit’ of all ROBs and ensure the construction of adequate crash barriers on their approach roads at the earliest to check incidents of vehicles falling on railway tracks in the state.
The engineer-in-chief in the letter dated January 11 also directed them to ensure that crash barriers/fencing on approach roads of the ROBs should be constructed as per the ‘Standard Specifications and Code of Practice for Road Bridges’ of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC)-2015 and guidelines for traffic safety barriers.
The instructions have been issued following concerns raised by the Railway Board in a letter dated November 10, 2023, related to increase in the number of incidents of vehicles falling on the railway tracks from the ROBs in Bihar.
“The Railway Board in a letter to the RCD has expressed concern over an increase in the number of incidents of vehicles falling on railway tracks from ROBs in Bihar. The primary reason behind such incidents is the absence of adequate safety fencing/barriers on approach roads to the ROBs on national highways and state highways in the state.
“Therefore, instructions are issued to carry out a safety inspection audit of all ROBs and construct crash barriers on approach roads on a priority basis to check such incidents in future”, says the letter of the engineer-in-chief. The letter is in the possession of PTI.
The letter further said, “The Action Taken Report (ATR) along with geotagged photographs must be sent to the RCD headquarters at the earliest so that it can be sent to the Railway Board for further consideration. The crash barriers/fencing on approach roads of the ROBs should be constructed as per the IRC-2015 ‘Standard Specifications and Code of Practice for Road Bridges”.
