BRO completes longest bridge in J&K

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) completes the longest bridge in Jammu and Kashmir connecting Rajouri and Poonch districts.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed the longest bridge in Jammu and Kashmir connecting Rajouri and Poonch districts over Chenab river.

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The project, which started near Akhnoor in April 2006, was completed in record time of about 20 months in January this year and is all set for commissioning, an official spokesman said.

The unique feature of the 280-meter bridge is that its pair-to-pair distance is 160 meter and the end spans of the bridge are 60 meter long.

The overall width of the bridge is 12 meter and it has been constructed using segmental construction technique and is supported with bearings.

It has four shock transmission units imported from France to withstand earthquake, he said.

The BRO engineers and officers gave a presentation to State's Governor S K Sinha, who inspected the bridge yesterday.

A BRO engineer told the Governor that the work on this bridge had started in 1979 and had to be abandoned due to technical snags. Again in 1986, the construction was taken up, but could not proceed due to technical reasons.

The technique of segmental construction was used, which has been very successful in areas with deep gorges and fast flow of water current.

The bridge construction had least impact on the environment and water flow, the spokesman said.