Goa: India's Second Longest Cable-Stayed Bridge Likely To Open In November

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, on Tuesday (30 August), performed a puja at the ceremony marking the final section's lifting of the Zuari Cable-stayed bridge.

The bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in November. The bridge is the second-longest cable-stayed bridge in the nation.

Once operational, the eight-lane cable-stayed bridge should relieve congestion on the two-lane bridge that crosses the Zuari river.

Building a bridge over the Zuari River on NH-17/NH 66 on the Panjim-Mangalore segment in the State of Goa is a part of constructing the Zuari cable-stayed bridge.

The bridge had been linked completely when the last segment had been lifted over the Zuari river.

At the closing segment event, CM Sawant stated that the bridge that connected Bambolim in North Goa to Verna junction in South Goa was built at Rs. 1,436 crores and in three phases.

"In the last 60 years (of Goa's liberation) you may have seen a development of different kinds, but you have been witness to the infrastructure development that has been done since 2014. It has been done by the double-engine Sarkar," Sawant said.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways bid on the project, and Bhopal-based Dilip Buildcon Limited won the contract.

French, Chinese, Central Public Works Department, and state Public Works Department specialists helped in the project.

Goa PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral stated that while the construction took eight years, the bridge would be "iconic" in Goa.

The new Zuari cable-stayed bridge will be 640m long, with a central span of 360m and end-spans of 140m on both sides, making it India's second longest cable-stayed bridge.

The bridge will have dual carriageways 27m wide and a 10.7m centre median.For construction logistics, the bridge deck is a composite structure (steel structure and concrete) with a temporary steel walkway connecting both sides of embankments and pylon foundation locations.

The bridge deck is built on-site using cutting-edge robotic welding technology. It is transported into the river by barge and lifted and erected by lifting frames.

A tourist observatory is proposed on the bridge for the 110-meter-high tower. The PWD would soon issue a tender for its construction using a public-private partnership (PPP) model.