Nivedita Setu is a multi-span extradosed bridge spanning the

Hooghly River The Hooghly River (, also spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the G ...

, connecting Bally,

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

with

Dakshineswar Dakshineswar is a neighbourhood in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Autho ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. It runs parallel to and about 50m downstream of the old Vivekananda Setu, opened in 1932. The bridge is named after Sister Nivedita, the social worker-disciple of Swami Vivekananda. The bridge is one of only five roadway bridges crossing the

within the Kolkata metropolitan region. Belghoria Expressway which connects the meeting point of NH-16 with NH-19 at Dankuni to NH 12, Kalyani Expressway, Kolkata Airport and northern parts of

passes over the bridge. The bridge is designed to carry 48,000 vehicles per day.

Design

The 1932 Vivekananda Setu had become weak as a result of ageing and with heavy traffic even repairs became difficult. There was need for a second bridge. The main challenge was to design and construct a new bridge that did not mar the view of the old Vivekananda Setu, did not dwarf the historically important Dakshineswar Kali Temple which is located well within visible distance, and carry substantially higher levels of fast traffic for around half a century. The bridge rests on deep-well foundations going down to the river bed level. It carries six lanes for high speed traffic. The carriageway is supported by 254 pre-stressed concrete girders. Cables from 14m high pylons extend additional support. Nivedita Setu is the first bridge in the country that is a single profile cable-stayed bridge. By design, the height of the columns are lower than the tip of the Dakshineswar temple.

Construction

This bridge is estimated to cost approximately Rs. 650

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

. The construction of the bridge started in April 2004, by the construction giant Larsen and Toubro and was opened to traffic in a record time in July 2007. The bridge is the India's first multi-span, single-plane cable-supported extradosed bridge; with short pylons and seven continuous spans of 110 m, totaling a length of 880 m (2,887 feet). It is 29 m wide and supports 6 lanes of traffic.

Award

Nivedita Setu has won an Award of Excellence from the American Segmental Bridge Institute, USA.

Toll

References

External links