Nivedita Setu is a multi-span

extradosed bridge An extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. The name comes from the word ''wikt:extrados, extrados'', the exterior or upper curve of an arch, and refe ...

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 Vivekananda Setu (also called Willingdon Bridge and Bally Bridge) is a bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It links the city of Howrah, at Bally, to Kolkata, at Dakshineswar. Completed in 1931, it is a multispan truss bridge ...

, opened in 1932. The bridge is named after

Sister Nivedita Sister Nivedita ( born Margaret Elizabeth Noble; 28 October 1867 – 13 October 1911) was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She wa ...

, the social worker-disciple of

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figu ...

. The bridge is one of only five roadway bridges crossing the

within the

Kolkata metropolitan region The Kolkata Metropolitan Area (abbreviated KMA; formerly Calcutta Metropolitan Area), also known as Greater Kolkata, is the urban agglomeration of the city of Kolkata (Calcutta) in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the third most populous ...

Belghoria Expressway Belghoria Expressway is a long grade separated bypass expressway in the northern metropolitan region of Kolkata, West Bengal. It bypasses the core city area and links the terminal junction points of NH 16 and NH 19 at Rajchandrapur near ...

which connects the meeting point of NH-16 with NH-19 at

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Positioned strategically near Kolkata, it has emerged as an import ...

to NH 12,

Kalyani Expressway Kalyani Expressway is a , 4-6 laned, tolled expressway in the state of West Bengal, India. It connects Kolkata with its satellite city Kalyani and declared as an expressway by Government of West Bengal. The road starts from Belghoria Expre ...

Kolkata Airport Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport () is an international airport serving the city of Kolkata and the Kolkata metropolitan area, the capital metropolis of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the primary aviation hub for eas ...

and northern parts of

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

Design

The 1932

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

, did not dwarf the historically important

Dakshineswar Kali Temple Dakshineswar Kali Temple or Dakshineswar Kalibari is a Hindu navaratna style temple in Dakshineswar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River. The presiding deity of the temple is Bhavatarini (Kali), a form of ...

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 Larsen & Toubro Limited, abbreviated as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate, with interests in industrial technology, heavy industry, engineering, construction, manufacturing, power, information technology, defence and financial ser ...

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