India’s longest cable-stayed bridge opens today

India’s longest cable-stayed bridge opens today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday inaugurate Sudarshan Setu, India’s longest cable-stayed bridge, in the Gulf of Kutch. Also known as Signature Bridge, it will link mainland Gujarat with Bet Dwarka island off Okha coast in Devbhumi Dwarka.

Signature Bridge is technically a sea-link, a first for Gujarat. Its total length is 4,772 metres, including a 900-m-long cable-stayed section. The four-lane bridge, constructed at a cost of Rs 978 crore, was funded by the Union government.

After the Union Territory of Diu, located at Una coast in Gir Somnath, Bet Dwarka is the second largest island off Gujarat coast. At present, the only means of transport between Bet Dwraka and mainland Gujarat is the ferry boat service running from Dwarka to Okha, the nearest point of mainland. The Signature Bridge will provide all-weather road-connectivity to the island. The bridge is supported by 32 piers, which support seven cable-stayed spans of 900-m length. Besides its 27-m-wide carriageway, the bridge has walkways on either side, its pillars decorated with verses of Bhagavad Gita and images of Lord Krishna. Solar panels form the roof of these walkways.

The bridge, constructed as a part of National Highway 51 that runs along the sea coast of Saurashtra, was built by the NH division of Gujarat roads and buildings department. The government had awarded the contract to SP Singla Constructions Private Limited. The Panchkula-based firm was in news last June when its under-construction Aguwani-Sultanganj Ganga bridge in Bihar collapsed.

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