How Goa's Sea Bridges And Elevated Roads Are Reshaping The State's Roadway Map

In December 2023, Goa marked the commencement of full operations of the eight-lane New Zuari Bridge.

Recognised as India's widest cable-stayed bridge, this infrastructure project stands as a key component of the enhanced road network connectivity within the state.

The bridge, running across the Zuari River, was highly anticipated, with the increased traffic demand over the years, as well as following the opening of the other sea bridge — Atal Setu — over the Mandovi river — in 2019.

With the state’s focus on revamping its infrastructure, the road network has taken centre stage for the government and authorities.

This includes widened highways, elevated roads, sea bridges, which all together have formed a seamless link and advanced landscape for surrounding development on the National Highway 66, running through the state.

The network connects the north and south of Goa, while further opening nearly 150 km of advanced carriageway in total, with its neighbouring states of Maharashtra in the north and Karnataka to its south.

Over the last five years, locals say that Goa has experienced increase of both local vehicle traffic and interstate transit, which was evident, as most of the major junctions on this orientation regularly faced issues of traffic congestion.

Identifying this overload, the construction had been underway at different phases, which now after expedited efforts of the state and central agencies, have transformed the overall experience of vehicular transit through the state.  

While the charm of beaches and the cultural heritage of Goan villages are best explored via internal roads, this advanced network now facilitates faster and convenient cargo movement and interstate travel without disrupting the tranquillity of the interior regions.

Country’s Second Longest Cable Stayed Bridge

Built across three packages, spanning a total length of 13.3 km is the critical road infrastructure connecting the north and south of Goa.

This includes an 8.45 km elevated road linking Bambolim in north Goa to Agacaim, a 1.08 km cable-stayed Zuari bridge, and a 3.3 km elevated road from Cortalim leading towards Margao in south Goa.

Featuring a central span of 360 metre and end-spans of 140 metre on each side, this bridge ranks as the second-longest cable-stayed bridge in India.

The contract for its construction was secured by Bhopal-based Dilip Buildcon Limited (DBL), and this section was completed at a cost of Rs 545.40 crore, utilising 22,000 tonnes of steel and 1,500 tonnes of Korean cables.

As the bridge now stands as a testament to infrastructure excellence, the team of engineers at the forefront, recollects the seven-year journey with numerous challenges and notable achievements.

To overcome these hurdles, the team collaborated with Ukrainian partners, French designers, and Chinese consultants.

An engineer from the DBL team tells Swarajya, “Work on the bridge came to a halt during the lockdown period, that pushed our deadlines. To continue the pace, the company had to arrange a special flight to transport workers from their respective locations once restrictions were partially lifted. 1,600 workers were working on a daily basis on this project during the peak of its construction.”

“During construction, special attention was paid to the pile cap, the base measuring 89.8 metres by 27 metres, larger than a football field. These support the towering pylons reaching a height of 100 metres."

"To build this, preventing any errors, it was divided into three segments for concreting, ensuring temperature control, mitigate the risk of cracks, and proofing the stability of the massive structure,” the official added.

Need For Reshaping The Network

Before this new road link, the primary connection over the river relied on the old Zuari bridge, constructed in the 1980s — which was plagued by traffic congestion, and faced continuous structural challenges.

According to regular office goers, “Jams would start from Agacaim and stretch all the way to the old bridge. To avoid getting stuck in traffic, many vehicles diverted to smaller roads inside the villages, which led to more traffic jams and noise pollution even on the narrow internal roads.”

They added, “The new network has improved the commuting experience, with travel time to just 40 minutes to reach the capital city of Panjim, compared to over an hour and a half previously.”

For residents living along the old road network, constant traffic previously, added with the lengthy process of constructing elevated roads made daily life challenging, with continuous disturbances and safety risks.

“Now the surrounding is clear of the traffic, as the movement has gone to the elevated structure, which has also eliminated the noise and dust that used to bother us day and night,” a group of locals said. 

These widened networks have brought seamless connectivity to the tourist centres, as well as between the major economic hubs of the state, such as Mapusa, Panjim, Verna, Ponda and Margao.

According to Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, “Half of the tourism infrastructure required for the future is ready with the opening of the parallel Zuari Bridge and Atal Setu, added with the commissioning of the Manohar International Airport. The next step is to create secondary infrastructure and human resource. This can be achieved through public private partnership (PPP).”

What’s Next For Goa’s Road Infrastructure

While the road network is now fully operational, the site office for this project, situated right beneath the bridge, still remains active as the project further includes construction of one of its kind tourist observatory towers, going higher than the pylons — envisioned to offer a unique experience for the tourism industry in the state.

On 22 December 2023, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for the twin towers. DBL will be in charge of constructing these iconic towers at an estimated cost of Rs 297 crore.

DBL engineers say, “The pylons of the bridge have been constructed to withstand the weight of the twin towers. The observatory will be equipped with a telescope, enabling visitors to admire the expansive beauty of the city.”

At the same time, several other critical connections are still underway in this series of advancements.

This includes the nearly 6 km elevated road, that will connect the Manohar International Airport to the state highway. As per Goa's Chief Minister, the pillar height of the elevated road is the highest in the country.

At present the connectivity to the greenfield airport includes a certain stretch through the internal roads, while the new elevated connection is going to reduce the travel time by nearly half.

Additionally, work on the six-lane elevated road at Porvorim, spanning 5.2 km is also anticipated to commence this year. The Rs 364 crore project accepted by the state government has a completion timeline of two years.