India’s longest cable-stayed bridge at Ambhora village in Nagpur district is awaiting the final reports of the balance testing from Germany. Once the report comes, the procedure to handover the bridge to the Government will commence. An official said that the bridge balancing procedure and testing was completed and the reports would be generated in Germany. After receiving the reports, the audit by the Central team would begin for the approval, he said. The construction of the bridge was completed in December 2022, with cables imported from Austria. The bridge balancing exercise, which is the final step in balancing the bridge, was finished recently after a delay of almost six months. The opening of the bridge is expected to bring about a new dawn of development for locals of Nagpur and Bhandara district. It may be mentioned here that villagers in Bhandara district had staged protests against delay in the inauguration ceremony of the bridge. According to sources, the bridge was completed in December last year and not opened for traffic due to delay in bridge balancing procedure.

 

The bridge was constructed by T&T Infra Ltd, a Pune-based company, after the State PWD awarded a contract worth Rs 143 crore. The bridge has footpaths on both sides and two lanes of 7.5 metres wide each on which four four-wheelers can travel at a time. Five pylons have been constructed in the Wainganga river to support the bridge, with the central pylon being 40 metres tall. A viewing gallery has been constructed at the top of the central pylon to boost tourism, with tourists able to access the gallery from two capsule-sized lifts or a staircase. The gallery has a carpet area of 325 square metres and is covered by super-thick glass.

 

The bridge is set to open doors of development for the backward area of Kuhi and Umred tehsil, and provide a significant boost to tourism at the Shree Chaitanyeshwar Mahadev temple at Ambhora. Located 75 kilometres from