December 2024
Revisiting the World’s Busiest Cantilever Bridge
Photo credit: Rendel
Last week, Rendel’s Senior Consultant Mike King and Bridge Team Leader and Assistant Technical Director Omar Nabeel carried out a detailed inspection of Howrah Bridge. This 80-year-old iconic structure, which connects the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata over the Hooghly River, is currently undergoing a detailed health check-up with the aim to preserve and secure its future supporting over a hundred thousand vehicles and pedestrians daily.
The bridge, officially known as Rabindra Setu, originally designed by Rendel Ltd (previously Rendel Palmer Tritton) is a cantilever bridge, with a central span of 460m between two 85m tall main towers and with the central portion (172m) of this span being suspended.
Rendel was previously involved in a similar health check-up for the bridge in the 1980s with RITES Ltd., and again our involvement was requested by the bridge owner and operator, Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust (SMPK).
Our involvement reaffirms the company’s expertise and advice as has also been called upon in previous assessments and rehabilitation of other iconic structures such as Westminster Bridge as well as Waterloo Bridge and the Thames Barrier – the latter two, originally designed by Rendel.