Howrah Bridge

The Howrah Bridge is a bridge that spans the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It was originally named the New Howrah Bridge because it links the city of Howrah to its twin city, Kolkata (Calcutta).

Howrah Bridge

Crosses                                         Hooghly River, India

Carries                                          Road bridge

Locale                                           Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Design                                          Balanced Cantilever Suspension

Total length                                  705 meters

Width                                           30 m

Tower height                                 82 m 

Spans                                            3

Material                                        Steel

Longest span                                457.5 meters

Opening date                                February 1943

On 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu, after Rabindranath Tagore a great poet and the first Indian Nobel laureate. However it is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.

The bridge is one of the four on the Hooghly River and is a famous symbol of Kolkata and West Bengal. The other bridges are the Vidyasagar Setu (popularly called the Second Hooghly Bridge), the Vivekananda Setu and the newly built engineering marvel Nivedita Setu. Apart from bearing the stormy weather of the Bay of Bengal region, it successfully bears the weight of a daily traffic of approximately 80,000 vehicles and, possibly, more than 1,000,000 pedestrians. It is the sixth longest bridge of its type in the world.