Entries about bridges

Howrah Bridge is a cantilever bridge with a suspended span over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the two cities of Howrah and Kolkata (Calcutta). On 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu after the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate. It is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.

The bridge is one of two on the Hooghly River and is a famous symbol of Kolkata and West Bengal. It weathers the storms of the Bay of Bengal region, carrying a daily traffic of approximately 100,000 vehicles and possibly more than 150,000 pedestrians, easily making it the busiest cantilever bridge in the world. The third-longest cantilever bridge at the time of its construction, the Howrah Bridge is the sixth-longest bridge of its type in the world.

Places around Howrah Bridge:
Kolkata Port is India's only riverine port with two dock systems - Kolkata Dock System at Kolkata with the oil wharves at Baj Baj, Anchorages at Diamond Harbour, Kulpi, Sagar and Sandheads and a deep water dock system at Haldia Dock Complex, Haldia . It has the most sophisticated port facilities with extensive storage facility for diverse cargo.

The Howrah Railway Station was set up in 1906, is one of the largest in the world with rail connections dispersing to all major Indian cities and towns. Howrah Station also serves as an important terminus for the suburban railway services of the Eastern and the South Eastern Railway.

Vidyasagar Setu also known as the Second Hooghly Bridge is a toll bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India, linking the cities of Kolkata (previously known as Calcutta).

With a total length of 823 metres (2,700 ft), Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable–stayed bridge in India and one of the longest in Asia. It was the second bridge to be built across the Hooghly River; 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) to the north. Named after the educationist reformer Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, it cost ₹3.88 billion to build. The project was a joint effort between the public and private sectors, under the control of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC).

The foundation stone for the bridge was laid by Indira Gandhi on 20 May 1972. The bridge took more than 22 years to complete. Work on the cable-stayed bridge started with the construction of the well curb on the Calcutta bank end on 3 July 1979, and commissioned on October 10, 1992.