How the sea was bridged

The 4.7 km-long Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai is set to open soon. Here are some key features of this unique bridge.

Print Edition: 12 Jul, 2009

The 4.7 km-long Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai is set to open soon. Here are some key features of this unique bridge.

Other suspension bridges

Sutong Bridge, Jiangsu, China.
Total length: 8,206 m

Tatara Bridge, Hiroshima and Ehime, Japan.
Total length: 1,480 m

Pont de Normandie, Le Havre–Honfleur, France.
Total length: 2,143 m

The total cable length used to connect the towers is equal to the circumference of the earth (40,075 km)
The length of the bridge (4 km) is 63 times the height of Qutub Minar in Delhi
The slabs on the bridge are screwed in place by special nuts and bolts. Each slab is unique and had to be fixed at a specific point
The piling of the bridge is 100 feet under the sea
For fixing the slabs, launching Trusses were used
If the Trusses had to be dismantled and moved, it would have taken almost 1 year
To save time, Asian Hercules, one of the largest floating cranes in the world, was hired to move the Trusses
The rental for the imported Trusses was Rs 1 crore per day

—Virendra Verma