BRIDGE ENGINEERING

❖ A bridge is a structure built to span the physical obstacles without closing

the way underneath, such as a body of water, road, or valley, for the
purpose of providing a passage over the obstacle. Bridge engineering is an
engineering discipline branching from civil engineering that involves the
planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of bridges to
ensure safe and effective transportation of vehicles, people and good.
Bridges provide rapid transit systems for both urban and intercity travels.
Some important bridges are presents here.

1. Padma Multipurpose Bridge

❖ The Padma Multipurpose Bridge commonly known as the Padma Bridge, is

a two-level road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of
the Ganges in Bangladesh. The bridge was inaugurated on 25 June 2022.

❖ The bridge is the most challenging construction project in the history of

Bangladesh, the steel truss bridge carries a four-lane highway on the upper
level and a single-track railway on the lower level. The bridge consists of 41
sections, each 150.12 m (492.5 ft) long and 22 meters (72 ft) wide, with a
total length of 6.15 km (3.82 mi). It is the longest bridge in Bangladesh, the
longest bridge over the river Ganges (Ganga) by both span and total length
and features the highest pile depth of any bridge in the world at 120 m (390
ft). It is the deepest bridge in the world, with piles installed as deep as 127
meters. The construction of the bridge was especially challenging as the
Padma River is among the most ferocious rivers in the world
 Fig:1 Padma Multipurpose Bridge.

Design: Truss bridge

Total length 6.15 km (3.82 mi)

Viaduct 3.148 km (Road), 532 m (Rail)
Approach Road 12.117 km
River Training Works 14 km (1.6 Mawa + 12.4 in Janjira
Width 18.18 m (59.6 ft)
Height 120 m (390 ft)
Water depth 122 m (400 ft)
No. of spans 41
Load limit 10,000 tons
No. of lanes 4
2. Bangabandhu Bridge

❖ Bangabandhu Bridge, also known as the Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge, is a

bridge opened in Bangladesh in June 1998. It connects Bhuapur on the
Jamuna River's east bank to Sirajganj on its west bank. It was the 11th
longest bridge in the world when constructed in 1998 and at present is the
6th longest bridge in South Asia. The Jamuna River, which it spans, is one of
the three major rivers of Bangladesh, and is fifth largest in the world in
discharge volume.

❖ The main bridge is 4.98 kilometers (3.09 mi) long with 49 main spans of
approximately 99 meters and two end spans of approximately 65 meters.
Connected to the bridge are east and west approach viaducts each with 12
spans of 10-meter length and transition spans of 8 meters. The total width
of the bridge deck is 18.5 meters.

❖ The river crossing was designed to carry a dual two-lane carriageway, a dual
gauge (broad and meter) railway, a high voltage (230 kV) electrical
interconnector, telecommunication cables and a 750 mm diameter high
pressure natural gas pipeline. The carriageways are 6.315 meters wide
separated by a 0.57-meter width central barrier; the rail track is along the
north side of the deck. On the main bridge, electrical interconnector pylons
are positioned on brackets cantilevered from the north side of the deck.
Telecommunication ducts run through the box girder deck and the gas
pipeline is under the south cantilever of the box section. The bridge has
been built by Hyundai Engineering and Construction (Korea) as a 'design
and build' contract. TY Lin Assoc. of San Francisco carried out the design as
a sub-contractor for Hyundai. The approach roads were constructed by
Samwhan Corporation (Korea).
 Fig:2 Bangabandhu Bridge

Coordinates 24°23′55″N 89°46′42″ECoordinates: 24°23′55″N 89°46′42″E

Crosses Jamuna River

Locale Tangail and Sirajganj

Official Bangabandhu Bridge

name

Other Jamuna Bridge

name(s)

Maintained Bangladesh Bridge Authority

by
Characteristics

Design Box girder bridge

Material Prestressed concrete

Total length 4.98 km

Width 18.5 m

Longest 99 m
span

History

Designer T. Y. Lin International

Constructed Hyundai Engineering & Construction

by

Opened June 1998

3. Hardinge Bridge

❖ Hardinge Bridge is a steel railway truss bridge over the Padma River located
at Ishwardi, Pabna and Bheramara, and Kushtia in Bangladesh. It is named
after Lord Hardinge, who was the Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916. The
bridge is 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long.

❖ The construction of a railway bridge over the Padma was proposed in 1889
by the Eastern Bengal Railway for easier communication between Calcutta
and the then Eastern Bengal and Assam. In 1902, Sir FJE Spring prepared a
report on the bridge. A technical committee reported that a bridge could be
constructed at Sara crossing the lower Ganges between the Paksey and
Bheramara Upazila stations on the broad-gauge railway from Khulna to
Parbatipur Upazila. The construction of the bridge started in 1910 and
finished two years later. The bridge comprises 15 steel trusses. The main
girders are modified "Petit" type.

❖ The most difficult task of the operation was to prevent bank erosion and to
make the river flow permanently under the bridge. For this, two guide
banks of the "Bell-bund" type named after J. R. Bell were built on either
side, each extending 910 meters (3,000 ft) upstream and 300 meters (1,000
ft) downstream from the bridge.[3] The ends of the riverbanks were curved
inward and heavily pitched with stone.

❖ Hardinge Bridge was severely damaged during the Liberation War of

Bangladesh of 1971. It happened on 13 December 1971, when the Indian
Air Force plane bombed on the 4th guarder from the Paksey side. As the
Pakistani army was on retreat towards Jessore (their last stronghold)
 Hardinge Bridge was strategically very important. The allied force damaged
the bridge. The Japanese Government helped to reconstruct the bridge.

❖ It is the second largest railway bridge in Bangladesh. Another bridge named

Lalon Shah Bridge for road transport beside the Hardinge Bridge has
recently been constructed.

Fig:3 Hardinge Bridge

Coordinates 24°04′04″N 89°01′45″ECoordinates: 24°04′04″N 89°01′45″E

Carries Broad-Gauge Rail-line

Crosses Padma River

Locale Pabna District & Kushtia District, Bangladesh

Characteristics

Design Truss bridge

Total length 1,798.32 m (5,900 ft)

History

Designer A M Rendel

Constructed by Braithwaite and Kirk

Opened 4 March 1915

4. Khan Jahan Ali Bridge

❖ Khan Jahan Ali Bridge is a bridge over Rupsa River in Khulna, Bangladesh
and named after Khan Jahan Ali. The bridge is also known as Rupsa bridge.
❖ In 2004, workers working at the construction site were harassed by Purba
Banglar Communist Party who were trying to extort the firms involved in
the construction of the bridge.
❖ The bridge is located 4.80 km far from Khulna Town. It is called the gateway
of Khulna because this bridge connects the Southern districts of Bangladesh
with Mongla, the second largest seaport of Bangladesh. The length of the
bridge is 1.6 km, and its width is 16.48 meters.

Fig:4 Khan Jahan Ali Bridge

Coordinates 22°46′40″N 89°35′01″ECoordinates: 22°46′40″N 89°35′01″E

Crosses Rupsa River

Locale Khulna

Official name Khan Jahan Ali Bridge

Other name(s) Rupsa Bridge

Maintained by Bangladesh Bridge Authority Ltd.

Characteristics

Total length 1.6 Km

Width 16.48 Meter

History

Opened 21 May 2005

5.Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge

❖ The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is a 164.8-kilometer-long (102.4 mi)

viaduct on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway. It is the longest bridge
in the world.
❖ The bridge is located on the rail line between Shanghai and Nanjing in
Jiangsu province. It is in the Yangtze River Delta where the geography is
characterized by lowland rice paddies, canals, rivers, and lakes. The bridge
runs roughly parallel to the Yangtze River, about 8 to 80 km (5 to 50 mi)
south of the river. It passes through the northern edges of population
centers (from west to east) beginning in Danyang, Changzhou, Wuxi,
Suzhou, and ending in Kunshan. There is a 9-kilometer long (5.6 mi) section
over open water across Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou.

❖ Construction was completed in 2010 and the bridge opened in 2011.

Employing 10,000 people, the project took four years and cost about $8.5
billion. The bridge currently holds the Guinness World Record for the
longest bridge in the world in any category as of June 2011.

Fig: 5 Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge

Coordinates 31.597837°N 120.456848°E

Carries Rail

Locale Jiangsu

Characteristics

Total length 164.8 kilometers (102.4 mi)

Width 79 meters (260 feet) (Avg.)

Height 30 meters (100 feet) (Avg.)

No. of spans 2000

History

Designer China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC)

Construction start ca. 2006[1]

Construction end 2010

Construction cost US$8.5 Billion

Opened 30 June 2011

6. Tianjin Grand Bridge

❖ Tianjin Grand Bridge (Langfang–Qingxian viaduct) is a railway viaduct bridge

that runs between Langfang and Qingxian, part of the Beijing–Shanghai
High-Speed Railway. It is one of the longest bridges in the world with a total
length of about 113.7 kilometers (70.6 mi). It was completed in 2010 and
opened in 2011. At the time Guinness World Records recorded it as the
second longest bridge in the world.
❖ The design of the elevated track was chosen on the one hand to avoid
numerous individual structures for crossing roads and railways, and on the
other to shorten the construction period. In addition, the railway line
requires less land area in this design: a railway embankment requires 28.4
hectares per routed kilometer, the bridge but only 10.9 ha, less than half
the area.
❖ The bridge consists of 32 m long box girders weighing 860 tons each. These
girders were created in two workplaces along the bridge, brought to the
installation site on the bridge section already installed, and then placed on
the piers by a special crane.

Fig: 6 Tianjin Grand Bridge

Coordinates 39.056084°N 117.054949°ECoordinates: 39.056084°N
117.054949°E

Carries Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway

Locale Hebei, Tianjin

Characteristics

Design viaduct

Total length 113.7 km (70.6 mi)

History

Construction about 2006

start

Construction end 2010

Opened June 30, 2011

7. Crimean Bridge
b
❖ The Crimean Bridge also
❖
❖ called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one
for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch
Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the
Kerch Peninsula of Crimea. Built by the Russian Federation after the
annexation of Crimea at the start of 2014, the bridge cost ₽227.92 billion
(US$3.7 billion) and has a length of 19 km (12 mi), making it the longest
bridge in Europe and the longest bridge ever constructed by Russia.
❖ In January 2015, the multibillion-dollar construction contract for the bridge
was awarded to Arkady Rotenberg's Stroygazmontazh. Construction began
in February 2016.The road bridge was inaugurated by Russian President
Vladimir Putin on 15 May 2018. It opened for cars on 16 May and for trucks
on 1 October the rail bridge was inaugurated on 23 December 2019 and the
first scheduled passenger train crossed the bridge two days later. The
bridge was opened for freight trains on 30 June 2020. A record amount of
traffic, totaling 36,393 cars, was recorded on 15 August 2020.
❖ The bridge was named the "Crimean Bridge" after an online vote in
December 2017, while "Kerch Bridge" and "Reunification Bridge" were the
second and third most popular choices, respectively.

❖ On 8 October 2022, an explosion occurred on the roadway leading from

Russia to Crimea, starting a large fire and causing parts of the road bridge
to collapse, with repairs ordered to be completed by end of July 2023 .
Fig:7 Crimean Bridge
Coordinates 45°18′31″N 36°30′22″E

Carries • A 290 ( E97)

• Bagerovo–Vyshestebliyevskaya railway

Crosses Kerch Strait: (Kerch–

Yenikale Canal, Tuzla
Island, Tuzla Spit remains)

Locale Kerch, Crimea and Taman,

Russia

Official Крымский мост

name

Owner Government of Russia

Characteristics

Design Double parallel railroad-

road truss arch bridge

Total length • Railroad bridge: 18.1 km (11+1⁄4 mi)

• Road bridge: 16.9 km (10+1⁄2 mi)

Water depth Up to 9 m (30 ft)

Longest 227 metres (745 ft)

span

Clearance 35 m
below
No. of lanes 4

Rail characteristics

No. of tracks 2

Track gauge Russian gauge

History

Designer Institute Giprostroymost

– Saint Petersburg

Constructed Stroygazmontazh
by

Construction February 2016[a]

start

Construction • April 2018 (road bridge)

end
• December 2019 (rail bridge)

Construction ₽227.92 billion

cost (US$3.7 billion)

Opened • 2018 (road bridge)

• 2019–2020 (rail bridge)

Inaugurated • 15 May 2018 (road bridge)

• 23 December 2019 (rail bridge)

Replaces • Kerch railway bridge

• Kerch Strait ferry line
Statistics

Daily traffic 15,000 cars