Patna: The long-awaited Kacchi Dargah-Bidupur six-lane Ganga bridge — a key infrastructure project linking north and south Bihar— has been completed and is awaiting inauguration. Built at a cost of around Rs 4,988 crore, the 19.76km project is expected to cut travel time between Patna and Vaishali to 20-25 minutes and ease traffic pressure on Mahatma Gandhi Setu.Officials said the bridge would cut the road journey between Patna and Vaishali to around 20-25 minutes and improve connectivity to Samastipur, Darbhanga and other parts of north Bihar.According to officials, the state govt is preparing to have the project inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Constructed by the Bihar State Road Development Corporation Limited (BSRDCL), the structure will be Bihar’s longest extra-dosed cable bridge. “The construction has been completed. We are awaiting approval from the Prime Minister’s Office for the inauguration,” a BSRDCL official said.The bridge spans the Ganga between Kacchi Dargah in Patna district and Bidupur in Vaishali district. It begins at the Patna-Bakhtiyarpur four-lane stretch of NH-30 at Sabalpur and ends between Chak Sikandar and Ghazipur Chowk on NH-103.Of the project’s total length of 19.76km, the main bridge accounts for 9.76km, while the approach roads extend for 10km.The six-lane bridge will provide a key link between NH-31 and NH-322. It features an extra-dosed cable design with 150-metre spans between piers supported by cables. The project uses 15.2mm cables imported from South Korea.The bridge was constructed by a joint venture of Larsen & Toubro and South Korean firm Daewoo with funding support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).Officials said the state government availed an ADB loan of Rs 3,000 crore for the project and spent about Rs 2,000 crore from its own resources. The bridge is 32 metres wide and designed for vehicle speeds of up to 100kmph.
