Vidyasagar Setu is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the country, its foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1972.
longest bridge on wires
Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable-stayed bridge in India. It is named after the great education reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. 3.88 billion rupees were spent on its construction. It is one of the longest bridge in Asia. Its length is 823 meters (2700 ft). This is the second bridge built over the Hooghly River. The first bridge over the Hooghly River is also known as Howrah Bridge or Rabindra Setu. The construction of this bridge was completed in 1943.
The foundation stone of Vidyasagar Setu was laid by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on May 20, 1972. But the work on it could not start for seven years. Its construction finally started on July 3, 1979. The bridge took more than 20 years to complete and was finally commissioned on 10 October 1992 by the Hooghly River Bridge Commission. About 30,000 vehicles pass through this bridge daily while its capacity is 85,000 vehicles.
what is its specialty
After the independence of the country, there was a rapid increase in population and commercial activities. Due to this the pressure on Howrah Bridge had increased. Because of this the need for a new bridge over the river was felt. Vidyasagar Setu is a bridge over wires, in which 121 cables are in fan arrangement. It is constructed using steel pylons 127.62 m (418.7 ft) high. Its deck is constructed from composite steel reinforced concrete with two carriageways. The total width of the bridge is 35 meters (115 ft). There are seven 1.2 m wide footpaths with three lanes in each direction. The deck above the main span is 457.20 meters long.
Vidyasagar Setu is a toll bridge with free cycle lanes. The bridge was designed by Schlaich Bergermann & Partner while it was built by a consortium of state-owned The Braithwaite Burn and Jessop Construction Company Limited (BBJ). The design of this bridge is slightly different from other bridges which are of live load composite construction. The difference lies in the dead load design concept, which was adopted for this bridge. The deck is designed with a grid structure of girders. One set of girders is at the end and the other set is in the middle, tied to girders placed at an average spacing of 4.2 meters (14 ft) from center to center.
Purvanchal Expressway : The country’s longest expressway, which connects Mau and Ghazipur directly to the capital Delhi
Wind tunnel testing
A deck crane was used to build the main span of the bridge. This specially designed crane of 45 ton capacity was used to erect the pylon of the bridge. About 13,200 tonnes of structural steel has been used to build this bridge. The prototype of this bridge was wind tunnel tested at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. After about 13 years of hard work, this excellent piece of engineering was ready.
