Vidyasagar Setu

The Vidyasagar Setu, popularly known as the second Hooghly Bridge is situated about 2 kilometers south of Howrah Bridge, Kolkata. The Vidyasagar Setu is the latest suspension bridge of Kolkata across the Hooghly connecting the city to its twin city of Howrah. Vidyasagar Setu of Kolkata has 9 lanes of traffic routes enabling it to handle nearly 85,000 vehicles daily. The Vidyasagar Setu of Kolkata,West Bengal is a toll bridge for all types of vehicles entering and going out of Kolkata.

The Vidyasagar Setu is named after the great son and scholar of Bengal 'Shri Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar'. The main objective of building the Vidyasagar Setu of Kolkata is to reduce the vehicular pressure on the Howrah bridge or the Rabindra Setu, the 'Gateway of Kolkata'.

Vidyasagar Setu in Kolkata took nearly 22 years to complete the construction work. The total expenditure of building such a magnificent bridge with all the modern technology was nearly Rs 3.88 billion. Vidyasagar Setu in Kolkata is the third largest cable-stayed bridge of the world and is an excellent example of the sophisticated engineering marvel. Construction of the Vidyasagar Setu of Kolkata was started in 1978 and finally was opened to the traffic on 10th October 1992.

Vidyasagar Setu at Kolkata is supported by 121 wire cables. The Vidyasagar Setu at Kolkata is 457 meters long and 115 meters wide. This graceful structure of the Vidyasagar Setu in Kolkata stands on four pylons. The huge foundation is 100 meters deep.

The toll bridge of the Vidyasagar Setu easily connects Kolkata to the Botanical Gardens and the Bengal Engineering College. The Hooghly River Bridge Commission (HRBC) is the commissioning agency of Vidyasagar Setu of Kolkata.



Last Updated on : 22 October 2012