Arrah–Chhapra Bridge (or Veer Kunwar Singh Setu) is the longest multi-span

extradosed bridge An extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. The name comes from the word ''wikt:extrados, extrados'', the exterior or upper curve of an arch, and refe ...

in the world with a main bridge length of . The bridge crosses over the

Ganges River The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, connecting

Arrah Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur ...

in Bhojpur district to

Chhapra Chhapra (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Chaparā'') is a city and headquarters of the Saran District in the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara River and the Ganges River. Chhapra grew in importance as a river-based mar ...

in Saran district of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

state. The bridge provides a roadway link between the northern and southern parts of Bihar. The bridge opened for public use on 11 June 2017. As of April 2021, it is the 9th longest bridge above water in

. The second longest extradosed bridge is

Kiso-gawa The is a river in the Chubu region of Japan roughly long, flowing through the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nagano Prefecture, Nagano, Gifu Prefecture, Gifu, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, and Mie Prefecture, Mie before emptying into Ise Bay ...

bridge in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

which is 275 m long.

Project

Politician

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...

laid the

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

for the Arrah-Chhapra bridge in July 2010. He said that his wish was to connect the Bhojpuri-speaking districts. The bridge reduced the distance between Chhapra and Arrah from 130 km to 40 km. This has greatly reduce the distance of Arrah, Aurangabad and Bhabhua districts from Siwan, Chhapra and Gopalganj districts. People can go from South to North Bihar without going to Patna district. This bridge connects NH-31 at Chirand near

to NH-922 at Koilwar near

with a 4-lane bridge. The bridge is the longest multi-span

in the world. The multi-span extradosed navigational section over the Ganges is 1,920m long and the bridge has a total length of 4.35 km, including the approach spans of more than 2 km. The 120m-long navigation spans are supported by five extradosed stay cables arranged in a single-plane harp configuration, whereas the approach spans are simply-supported. The navigation spans and 2 km of the approach spans are composed of single-cell precast concrete box girders, while the remaining 0.35 km of approach spans are cast-in-place. The total length of approach road on either side of the bridge is 17 km.

Accident

In September 2015, seven people were killed after a crane collapsed at the bridge construction site.

Bridges across the Ganges in Bihar

The Ganges divides the state of Bihar in two parts. The river makes communication between the two parts difficult. The first effort to bridge the gap was

Rajendra Setu Rajendra Setu, or Simaria Bridge, is a bridge across the Ganges that was the first to link the northern and southern portions of the state of Bihar. The location of the bridge was based on the work of M. Visvesvaraya, who was more than 90 years ...

in 1959. The next bridge across the Ganges in Bihar was the Mahatma Gandhi Setu, the longest bridge in India at the time of its commissioning in 1982. It was followed by Vikramshila Setu near

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur, historically known as Champapuri, Champa Nagari, is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern bank of the Ganges river. It is the Bihar#Government and administration, third largest city of Bihar by population and ...

. The fourth bridge across the Ganges in the state is the

Digha–Sonpur bridge The Digha–Sonpur bridge () or J. P. Setu () is a rail-cum-road steel truss bridge across river Ganga, connecting Digha Ghat in Patna and Pahleja Ghat in Sonpur. It is named after Indian independence activist Jayaprakash Narayan. It provid ...

. Munger Ganga Bridge is also under construction. A bridge Bakhtiyarpur-Tajpur Bridge is under construction which will connect Bakhtiyarpur and Tajpur. Arrah–Chhapra Bridge across the Ganges connects

and

. A road bridge parallel to the existing rail and road bridge, Rajendra Setu, has also been planned.

Status updates

* Jun 2017: Bridge inaugurated by Chief Minister of Bihar

on 11 June 2017.

References

External links