Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Anyone travelling from Bharalumukh to Fancy Bazar in Guwahati on the riverside road will notice stay cables being installed on the under-construction bridge over the Brahmaputra River connecting the city to North Guwahati. Those in the know said the cables used in the construction of the bridge are sourced from Austria.
According to Assam PWD sources, this will be the Northeast’s first bridge to use stay cables to support the structure. Over 90% of the construction work is complete, and the completion target for the bridge is the last part of this year.
The sources said that the stay cables will bear 30% of the total load of the bridge. The remaining 70% of the load will be borne by the girders and beams. The span between two main pillars is 200 metres. That is why stay cables between the towers on the bridge are necessary. Moreover, the cables form a pyramidical shape and look aesthetically appealing.
The total cost is now calculated to be Rs 3030.48 crore, instead of Rs 2608.68 crore envisaged earlier. The foundation of the bridge project over the Brahmaputra at Guwahati was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2019.
According to state PWD sources, the work on the superstructure of the bridge is currently going on, and as it is a cable-stayed bridge, the cables that support the bridge deck are now being fitted to the towers on the bridge.
The bridge is being constructed under the ‘Assam Bridge Project’ of the state’s PWD by SP Singla Constructions Pvt. Ltd. in engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) mode. The funding agency for the bridge is the New Development Bank (NDB).
Once completed, it will be India’s longest extradosed bridge, said PWD sources. There are a total of six foundations at a distance of 200 metres from each other, with the foundations embedded 56 metres under the riverbed. The bridge has been designed as per Indian Road Congress guidelines to last for at least 100 years.
Also Read: Assam: Guwahati-North Guwahati Bridge Cost Revised to Rs 3030 Crore
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