Vidyasagar Setu – This Cable-Stayed Bridge Can Carry More Than Eighty Five Thousand Vehicles Every Day

VIDYASAGAR SETU

AT

HOOGLY

Vidyasagar Setu, which is famously called Second Hooghly Bridge is located over the River Hooghly in Kolkata. Vidyasagar Setu is reckoned as one of the longest bridges of its type across India. It is also acknowledged as one of the longest bridges of Asia.

The bridge connects the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata. With a length of 822.96 m, the Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable-stayed bridge across the country. 

The bridge was built under the joint initiative of the private firms and Public Sector Undertakings, working under the supervision of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners. Vidyasagar Setu was built at an expense of Rs 388 crores. The bridge has been named after Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the educationist reformer of Bengal in the 19th century.

The building process of the bridge was initiated in 1978 and it was eventually opened to public on the 10th of October, 1992.The bridge carries the NH 117, also known as the Kona Expressway. The cable – stayed bridge has a main span of 457 m and 35m wide. With six lanes of traffic, the bridge can carry more than 85,000 vehicles every day.

Vidyasagar Setu has been named after the great erudite and reformer Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The foundation stone of the Vidyasagar Setu was laid by Indira Gandhi on May 20, 1972. Vidyasagar Setu is a cable-stayed flyover with 121 cables, styled in fan arrangement.

The bridge with a total width of 35 meters, features three lanes in each directions and a 1.2 meters wide footpath on each side.Vidyasagar Setu was subjected to prototype wind tunnel tests at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.