New Delhi: India’s major bridge projects built over the past twelve years have emerged as key markers of the country’s infrastructure expansion, improving regional connectivity, reducing travel time and strengthening economic corridors across several states, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The ministry said the projects were delivered under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the guidance of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari. Spread across Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and the North-East, the bridges are being presented as examples of infrastructure-led development, national integration and improved mobility.
For a country where rivers are central to life, culture and commerce, bridges are more than concrete, steel and cables. They are daily conveniences that often go unnoticed — until one has to take the long way around. From cable-stayed and extradosed bridges to long beam structures over difficult terrain, the projects reflect the scale of modern road-building in India.
Among the prominent examples is the 1.49 km long ‘New’ Saraighat Bridge over the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati. Running parallel to the historic Old Saraighat Bridge, it has become an important connector for Assam by easing traffic congestion and supporting smoother movement for thousands of daily commuters.
The bridge improves travel between North and South Guwahati and also strengthens traffic movement along the East–West Corridor on NH-27, one of the key highway links in the region.
In Rajasthan, the 6-lane single-plane cable-stayed bridge across the Chambal River in Kota stands out as one of India’s major engineering projects. The 1.4 km bridge, Rajasthan’s first hanging bridge, was dedicated to the nation in August 2017.
The bridge is 30 metres wide and has 1.5-metre-wide footpaths on both sides. Its stay cables are made of individually sheathed strands with triple protection, while the external cable ducts are designed to reduce rain and wind-induced vibrations, helping improve the structure’s strength and longevity.
A major feature of the Kota bridge is its environment-sensitive design. Nearly 300 metres of the six-lane bridge has been suspended with cables, avoiding any pier in the riverbed. The design was adopted to protect the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, which is home to the endangered gharial, the red-crowned roof turtle and the Ganges River dolphin. In other words, the bridge had to serve both commuters and some very particular river residents.
In Gujarat, the 1.34 km long bridge over the Narmada River on NH-8 in Bharuch has added capacity to one of western India’s important road sections. The extradosed bridge, which has one of the longest spans in the country, opened to traffic in March 2017 and was completed in 34 months.
The Narmada bridge is 20.8 metres wide and includes a 3-metre footpath on either side. Located on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai section of NH-8 in Bharuch district, it has helped improve speed, safety and economic movement in the region.
Bihar’s six-lane bridge over the Ganga on the Aunta–Simaria section of NH-31 is another major project highlighted by the ministry. The 1.8 km bridge is designed as one of India’s widest extradosed bridges, with a single segmental structure and a 34-metre-wide deck over the river.
The structure has span lengths ranging from 57 metres to 115 metres and 70-metre cantilever arms, reflecting a complex engineering design. It has been built parallel to the old Rajendra Setu, a two-lane rail-cum-road bridge constructed nearly seven decades ago.
With the older bridge becoming inadequate for heavy vehicles due to age and frequent repairs, traffic was often forced onto lengthy detours. The new six-lane extradosed bridge over the Ganga now provides a direct link between North and South Bihar and was inaugurated by the Prime Minister in August 2025.
In the North-East, the 9.15 km Dhola–Sadiya Bridge, also known as the Bhupen Hazarika Setu, remains one of the most strategically important road links in the country. It connects Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and provides the first permanent road connection between northern Assam and eastern Arunachal Pradesh.
Built as a beam bridge, the Dhola–Sadiya Bridge crosses the Lohit River, one of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra. It connects Dhola in Assam’s Tinsukia district to Sadiya in the north.
The bridge has also been designed to withstand the load of 60-tonne military tanks, including the Indian Army’s Arjun and T-72 models. That capability gives the structure strategic value in addition to its role in civilian connectivity.
The ministry’s emphasis on these projects underlines how bridges have become central to India’s transport planning. By linking regions divided by rivers, difficult terrain and older infrastructure bottlenecks, these projects are intended to improve logistics, ease movement and support local economies.
As India continues to expand its road network, bridges such as the New Saraighat, Kota Chambal, Bharuch Narmada, Aunta–Simaria Ganga and Dhola–Sadiya projects show how infrastructure can shape everyday life. They may stand silently over rivers, but their impact is anything but quiet.
