One of the most crucial bridges on the Aabukhaireni-Mugling section of the Prithvi Highway over the Trishuli river needs immediate repair.

The support beam to the left of the bridge has split and is deviating from its original position, raising alarms among local residents of its imminent collapse.

“When a vehicle crosses it, it shakes like a suspension bridge,” said Bishnu Silwal, a local, adding that seven of the eight bolts no longer hold the beam. With load shifted to other beams, they are also detaching themselves, he warned.

The locals hold the Division Road Office (DRO), Damauli, and the Mugling Bridge Project responsible for the sorry state resulting from their failure to conduct routine assessment and maintenance on the bridge.

The railing of the bridge has broken at three places, due to vehicles slipping on the steel sucker plates installed at the cost of Rs 30 million about two years ago. Barbed wires have been placed in the damaged sections. The damage control measure was okayed as the government anticipated the bridge to last another 20 years but the steel plates started coming off within a year. The DRO commissioned the Radha Structures and Engineering Pvt Ltd to install the plates by removing the dilapidated blacktop.

Two-way traffic was prohibited on the bridge on engineers’ recommendation after its support plates shifted in 2010 but the ban was not implemented for long.

Belbahadur Bhujel, chief of the Division Road Office, said he has sent a team of experts to investigate the matter and that he would recommend maintenance. He blamed drivers of heavy vehicles who ignore the notice not to overload the bridge by taking more than one four-wheeler across at one go.

The bridge is a crucial link for Pokhara and a dozen districts in the western region to the central region including the Capital and Narayangadh. Over a hundred passenger vehicles cross the 125-metre bridge daily. It was built with Chinese assistance 42 years ago.