Godavari Bridge

The Kovvur-Rajahmundry Bridge or simply, the Godavari Bridge is a Truss Bridge crossing the river Godavari in Rajahmundry, India. It is Asia's second longest road-cum-rail bridge crossing a water body, after Japan's Kansai International Airport Sky Gate Bridge.

History

Overview

Constructed over a quarter of a century ago in the 1970s, this bridge is a modern day engineering feat. The bridge was constructed by Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited. The bridge is fit for rail services. It was commissioned by South Central Railway of India. This bridge links East and West Godavari districts of state Andhra Pradesh.

Construction

The Chennai-Howrah railway line was single track until the 1960s when the government planned to double the track to relieve railway loads and the increase in passenger counts. Most of the route had been doubled except for the Vijayawada - Visakhapatnam sector where a bridge about 3 km long was required to lay the double track over the Godavari River near Rajahmundry. In 1964, the construction of the second bridge was sanctioned by the government. There was also a demand from the public to construct a road link from Rajahmundry to Kovvur. Thus, the government agreed to sanction the construction of a road -cum- rail bridge. The bridge was completed by the mid 1970s. This completed the double track railway. The bridge served the railways along with the Old Godavari Bridge until 1997, when the Old Godavari...
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