The Newz Radar
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is all set to make a construction world record on the Kalka-Shimla national highway in Himachal Pradesh. The world’s highest extradosed bridge is going to be built between Kaithlighat and Shimla towards the end of the highway near Sanjauli town.
At 280 metres, the height of the bridge will be more than the one at 275 metres built in Japan. It will be higher than three Qutub Minar put together. The bridge will be built on three iron pillars from the deep gorge. The height of one of these pillars will be 620 feet, while the height of the top pillar from the trench will be up to 826 feet.
This bridge is being built with the state-of-the-art technology and will become a centre of attraction for tourists. The NHAI has entrusted the work on the construction of the bridge to Gavar Infrastructure Company. The total cost of the extradosed bridge has been estimated at Rs 600 crore and the construction work will be completed in three years. The stretch from Kaithlighat to Shimla is 28.46 km. The total cost of the four-laning work will around Rs 3,915 crore.
Five tunnels will be built on the route and about 5.14 km of the highway portion will pass through these tunnels. The longest tunnel will be 2.66 km long, which will pass beneath the Sanjauli market while the shortest tunnel will be 242 metres.
The work on the four-lane project from Kalka to Shimla has been divided into four phases. The first two phases from Pinjore (near Kalka) to Parwanoo Solan to Parwanoo is almost complete while the construction on the third phase is underway between Kaithlighat and Solan. The last phase on this national highway is to be completed from Kaithlighat to Shimla. This work on the last phase has been divided into two sub-phases with 27 bridges and five tunnels set to be constructed. The NHAI has issued separate tenders for both the sub-phases.
