Fully renovated Gandhi Setu to be inaugurated on June 7 in Patna

The Mahatma Gandhi Setu in Patna will be operational as the eastern flank of the bridge will be inaugurated on June 7. The 5.6 km bridge will be India's longest steel bridge once inaugurated.

The 39-year-old Setu is the first balanced cantilever bridge in India, which has been dismantled and converted into a simple-supported bridge. The bridge comprises the existing concrete substructure and the superstructure has been replaced by a steel superstructure.

Project manager at Afcons, SK Misra, said the waiting time was 3-4 hours due to traffic jams and the poor condition of the bridge's infrastructure. But now the traffic can be handled in 15-20 minutes.

More than a lakh of passenger cars cross this bridge every day. The bridge is vital for the socio-economic development of Patna as it connects the north and south of Bihar.

Misra said the downstream avenue or eastern flank was completed in 18 months, and several factors helped speed up construction work. The fabrication of trusses for the downstream was completed in advance. The assembly of the steel superstructure was completed in 13 months. Another 50 pier caps were modified and cast in 11 months, and the dismantling activities were completed in 8 months.

He said the main concern in the project was ongoing traffic on the adjacent bridge. The work will also include the completion of a large number of decommissioning works, with environmentally sound disposal of waste material to ensure no debris from the bridge demolition is dumped into the river.

Approximately 66,360 metric tons (mt) of steel is used throughout the bridge's superstructure. Misra said the steel mill was a big part of the work in the project. Purchasing and manufacturing activities were carried out through suppliers and workshops across India.

The bridge has been reconstructed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Roads for Rs 1,742 crore under the Prime Minister's package to Bihar.