Bihar: In India's First, Mahatma Gandhi Bridge At Patna Completes Superstructure Replacement

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday (7 June) inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 15 National Highway (NH) projects in Patna and Hajipur in Bihar with Rs 13,585 crore.

The projects inaugurated include superstructure replacement of 6 km long Mahatma Gandhi Setu with Rs 1,742 crore and Chhapra - Gopalganj section of NH-85 built with Rs 1,192 crore.

Speaking on occasion, Gadkari said Mahatma Gandhi Setu is the lifeline of Bihar, which connects North Bihar with South Bihar. With this superstructure replacement project, the time to cross Mahatma Gandhi Setu has been reduced from 2 to 3 hours to 5 to 10 minutes.

The four-lane Mahatma Gandhi Setu at Patna on the Ganga River was constructed during year 1980s by the State Government of Bihar. This distressed Bridge is an important link between North Bihar and South Bihar.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has tried to rehabilitate this Bridge for the last 15 years, but the efforts were not successful. After many studies, it was decided that the only remedy left was to dismantle the existing superstructure, followed by subsequent re-decking by a steel truss.

In June 2016, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the project to rehabilitate this Bridge in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.

Work on this Bridge was started in June 2017, and work was completed in two parts. The upstream lane was completed in July 2020. After that, the downstream lane was taken up.

The new steel superstructure consisting of about 6,600 metric steel is being provided by replacing the existing distressed concrete superstructure. This is a new type of work being executed in India for the first time.