Er A R Tuladhar - The Structural Engineer

Finally The First And Last Overpass In Kathmandu!

A huge chaos and dilemma was created for this technically simplistic overpass road project. Though these kind of infrastructures are unsuitable in city landscapes; the structural and geotechnical part of the project was unnecessarily entangled supposedly due to the inefficiency of the designers or the contractors involved or much interference from the client DoR.

The precast wall panels installed at the vertical faces are not supposed to carry any kind of earth pressure. They are primarily meant to coverup the soil mass behind. The soil filling behind is self supportive due to the compressive forces generated by the geotextile grids thereby preventing the shear failure planes. These geotextile grids remains in tension however.

The stability of filling soil mass under the vehicular movement and its dynamic behavior under the seismic shaking is still a matter of concern however and will be checked within a few months of operation.

-Er A R Tuladhar (24-May-2025, 6:00 AM, Kathmandu)