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Godavari Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The Godavari Bridge | |
| Coordinates | 16°59′52″N81°45′21″E / 16.99778°N 81.75583°E /16.99778; 81.75583 |
| Carries | Two lanes of Road and Single Railway line. |
| Crosses | Godavari River |
| Locale | Rajahmundry |
| Other name(s) | Rajahmundry–Kovvur Bridge |
| Preceded by | The Havelock Bridge |
| Followed by | Godavari Arch Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Truss Bridge |
| Total length | 4.1 kilometres (2.5 mi) |
| Longest span | 91.5 metres (300 ft) |
| No. of spans | 27 |
| History | |
| Engineering design by | Braithwaite, Burn & Jessop Construction Company |
| Opened | 16 August 1974; 50 years ago (16 August 1974) |
| Location | |
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TheGodavari Bridge orKovvur–Rajahmundry Bridge is atruss bridge spanning theGodavari River inRajahmundry,India. It isIndia's fourth longest road-cum-rail bridge crossing a water body, the first one being theBogibeel Bridge over the Brahmaputra in Assam,[1] and second isDigha–Sonpur Bridge over the Ganga in Bihar.
The Godavari bridge is 4.1 kilometers (2.8 km Rail part & 4.1 km Road part) long consisting of 27 spans of 91.5 m and 7 spans of 45.72 m of which 6 spans of 45.72m are in 6 deg. curve at longRajahmundry end to make up for the built up area. The bridge has a road deck over thesingle track rail deck, similar to theGrafton Bridge inNew South Wales,Australia. This bridge, in addition toGodavari Arch Bridge, has been widely used to representRajahmundry inarts,media, andculture. It is one of the recognised symbols ofRajahmundry.[2]
The road-cum-rail bridge is built across theGodavari River (largest river inSouth India at over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) length) as it enters into the deltaic reach beforedebouching into the sea 60 kilometres (37 mi) downstream of the bridge, the second largest river in India. At the location of the bridge, nearRajahmundry, the river flows with a width of about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi), split in two channels with an island formation in between. The maximum discharge observed in the river is reported to be around 3 million m3/s and the maximum velocity of water flow as 5 metres (16 ft) per second.
During the Third Five-Year plan doubling of railway track betweenChennai-Howrah was planned. Most of the route had been doubled except the small stretch of track betweenKovvur andRajahmundry where a bridge had to be built to span the three kilometer longGodavari River. During 1964, the construction of second bridge acrossGodavari River atRajahmundry was sanctioned as a part of doubling of track betweenKovvur andRajahmundry. But there had been a persistent demand from local population for construction of a road link betweenKovvur andRajahmundry, which would essentially linkEast Godavari andWest Godavari districts. TheAndhra Pradesh State Government came forward with the proposal to add a road deck over the rail bridge under construction as a part of doubling the railway track betweenChennai-Howrah.[3]
It was commissioned bySouth Central Railway division ofIndian Railways. Construction of the bridge began in the early 1970s byBraithwaite, Burn & Jessop Construction Company, a group company of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited.[4] When completed it was Asia's longest rail -cum- road bridge.
It was inaugurated by the thenPresident of India,Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed in 1974.
TheOld Godavari Bridge or Havelock Bridge was built in 1900 by Mr.F.T.G.Walton, now decommissioned, this bridge has 56 spans and is 2754 m long. It was constructed with stone masonry and steel girders and certainly a marvel of British engineering. The New Godavari Bridge was made as a substitute for it.
Godavari Arch Bridge is the third bridge constructed near Rajahmundry. Constructed by theHindustan Construction Company (HCC), this bridge is a modern-day engineering feat. The bridge is made of bow string girder arches. The bridge is fit for 350 km/h rail services. It was commissioned for passenger traffic in March 1997 and became fully operational for running trains by the Indian Railways from 2003.
New Kovvur–Rajahmundry4th Bridge was opened to traffic in 2015.[5]
