Jamuna Bridge যমুনা সেতু | |
|---|---|
 Jamuna Multi-Purpose Bridge | |
| Coordinates | 24°23′55″N89°46′42″E / 24.39861°N 89.77833°E /24.39861; 89.77833 |
| Carries | National Highway 405 Asian Highway 2 |
| Crosses | Jamuna River |
| Locale | Tangail &Sirajganj |
| Official name | Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge |
| Other name(s) | Jamuna Bridge |
| Maintained by | Bangladesh Bridge Authority |
| Next upstream | Jamuna Railway Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Box girder bridge |
| Material | Prestressed concrete |
| Total length | 4.8 km[1] |
| Width | 18.5 m[1] |
| Longest span | 99 m |
| History | |
| Designer | T. Y. Lin International[2] |
| Constructed by | Hyundai Engineering & Construction[2] |
| Opened | June 1998 |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | Yes |
| Location | |
 | |
Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge (Bengali:যমুনা বহুমুখী সেতু,romanized: Jamuna Bahumukhee Setu), is a bridge built over the riverJamuna inBangladesh. The bridge was opened in June 1998.[3] With a length of 4.8 kilometres, it is the second longestbridge of Bangladesh. It connectsBhuapur on theJamuna River's east bank toSirajganj on its west bank. 90% of this bridge is underTangail district and 10% underSirajganj district. It was the 11thlongest bridge in the world when constructed in 1998[4] and at present is the 6th longest bridge inSouth Asia. The Jamuna River, which it spans, is one of the three major rivers of Bangladesh, and is fifth largest in the world in discharge volume.
The riverJamuna (Brahmaputra), along with the lower stretch of thePadma (Ganges) divides Bangladesh into nearly two equal halves. Until now all road and rail communication between the two parts of the country has had to rely on time-consumingferry services that were often disrupted because ofnavigability problems. The need for a bridge over the Jamuna River was felt, especially by the people living in northwestern Bangladesh, for a long time. This perceived need did not go unnoticed by the policy makers.
At the invitation of the Bangladesh government, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted a feasibility study in 1973 for the construction of a road-cum-rail bridge over the Jamuna River.
After the completion of the JICA study in 1976, it was determined that the Jamuna project would cost $683 million with an economic rate of return (ERR) of only 2.6%. Due to the project being deemed not technically and economically feasible, the government initially abandoned it. However, in 1982, the government revived the project and initiated a new study to explore the feasibility of transporting natural gas to the western regions of the country across the Jamuna. Although an independent gas connector was not deemed economically viable, a study assessing the engineering feasibility and cost of a combined road-cum-gas transmission bridge introduced the concept of a multipurpose bridge. The estimated cost for a 12-km long bridge with three road lanes was $420 million. Following the report, the cabinet decided to take immediate steps towards the project.
The Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority (JMBA) was established through an ordinance by the President on 3 July 1985 to oversee the project implementation. To raise domestic resources, another ordinance introduced a Jamuna Bridge surcharge and levy, resulting in the mobilization of Tk. 5.08 billion until its abolition.
In 1986, the phase-I feasibility study identified the site between Sirajganj and Bhuapur (Tangail) as the most suitable location for the bridge. Subsequently, the phase-II feasibility study conducted between 1987 and 1989 confirmed the economic and technical viability of a road-cum-rail-cum-power bridge. The government of Bangladesh finalized funding arrangements for the bridge with IDA, ADB, and OECF of Japan in 1992. Construction contracts were awarded through international bidding in 1993, and the foundation stone of the bridge was laid on 10 April 1994. Physical implementation of the project began on 15 October 1994, with all components except the gas transmission line completed by June 1998. The bridge was officially opened for traffic on 23 June 1998.
Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge was constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries[citation needed] at a cost of $696 million.[5] However, the whole bridge project costed $1.24 billion for unknown reasons.[5] The cost was shared byIDA,ADB,OECD, and the government of Bangladesh. Of the total, IDA,ADB andOECD supplied $200 million each through a loan with 1% nominal interest,[5] and the remaining $96 million was borne by Bangladesh.[5]
The main bridge is 4.98 kilometres (3.09 mi) long with 49 mainspans of approximately 99 metres and two endspans of approximately 65 metres. Connected to the bridge are east and westapproachviaducts each with 12 spans of 10 metre length andtransition spans of 8 metres. The total width of thebridge deck is 18.5 metres.
Theriver crossing was designed to carry a dual two-lanecarriageway, adual gauge (broad andmetre)railway, a high voltage (230 kV)electrical interconnector,telecommunicationcables and a 750 mm diameter high pressurenatural gaspipeline. Thecarriageways are 6.315 metres wide separated by a 0.57 metre width central barrier; the rail track is along the north side of the deck. On the main bridge, electrical interconnectorpylons are positioned on brackets cantilevered from the north side of the deck. Telecommunication ducts run through the box girder deck and the gas pipeline is under the south cantilever of the box section. The bridge has been built byHyundai Engineering and Construction (Korea) as a 'design and build' contract. TY Lin Assoc. of San Francisco carried out the design as a sub-contractor for Hyundai. Theapproach roads were constructed by Samwhan Corporation (Korea).
_Jamuna_Bridge.JPG)
The bridge is supported on tubular steelpiles driven into theriver bed.Sand was removed from within the piles byairlifting and replaced withconcrete. Out of the 50piers, 21 piers are supported on groups of three piles (each of 2.5 m diameter) and 29 piers on groups of two piles (each of 3.15 diameter). The driving of 121 piles started on 15 October 1995 and was completed in July 1996.
The pier stems are founded on concretepilecaps, whose shells wereprecast and infilled within-situreinforced concrete. Thereinforced concrete pier stems support pierheads which containbearings andseismicdevices. These allow movement of the deck undernormal loading conditions but lock in the event of anearthquake to limit overallseismic loads through the structure and minimise damage.
The mainbridge deck is a multi-span precastprestressed concretesegmental structure, constructed by thebalanced cantilever method. Eachcantilever has 12 segments (each 4 m long), joined to a pierhead unit (2 m long) at each pier and by an in-situ stitch at mid span. The deck is internallyprestressed and of single box section. The depth of the box varies between 6.5 metres at the piers to 3.25 metres at mid-span. Anexpansion joint is provided every 7 spans by means of ahinge segment at approximately quarter span. The segments were precast and erected using a two-spanerection gantry.The erection gantry was designed byButterley Engineering Ltd. from Ripley, Derbyshire, UK and at 200m long was thought to be one of the largest in the world at that time.[6]
The Jamuna Bridge carries adualbroad andmetre gaugerailway track.[5] It also carriespylons for apowerline. The extension of the bridge cost $134 million extra later on.
Within a decade of inauguration, cracks were detected on the bridge prompting the authorities to impose limits on the number of vehicles allowed to cross at any given time. By early 2008, the government announced its intention to sue the South Korean conglomerateHyundai for flawed design.[7]
During March 2006-June 2006,Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology experts worked to identify the causes of extensive cracking of prestressed concrete deck, web and pear head units of almost all segments of the Bridge. The cracks were identified primarily on the longitudinal direction of the bridge deck with some secondary crackings also in the transversedirection. In the analytical investigation, three dimensional model of the bridge was developed in finite elements methods.[8][9]
Repair and strengthening effort included the replacement of modular expansion joints, strengthening the deck with carbon fiber reinforced polymer strips, web-deck connection improvement by carbon fiber reinforced fabrics and also sealing of non-structural cracks. These were conducted in phases. After repair and strengthening, performance of the bridge monitored. Health monitoring campaign was conducted byBangladesh University of Engineering and Technology for first few years to take reference measurements.[10][11]
Media related toJamuna Bridge at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
