Howrah Bridge

World’s fourth busiest Cantilever bridge is situated on the River Hooghly and connects the western bank of Kolkata to the eastern bank of Howrah. This bridge acts as the lifeline of Kolkata city and offers its best view from the centre of the river, although photography is restricted here.

This bridge, which handles a regular traffic of roughly 60,000 vehicles and uncountable pedestrians, is now popularly called Rabindra Setu after Rabindranath Tagore. In 1939, the construction of this bridge began, owing to the communication problem between Howrah and the-then three villages of Sutanuti, Kolkata and Gobindopur. With time, Howrah emerged to be the largest railway station in West Bengal and the centre of the metropolitan city of Kolkata.

Moreover, it was put up at the time of the 2nd World War to allow access for the Allied powers to the Burmese front. Previously there was a pontoon bridge constructed by Sir Bradford Leslie in 1874. This structure was redesigned and made into the Howrah Bridge in 1942, which was opened to the public for use since February 1943. An approximate figure of Rs. 333 crore was invested to create the strong structure of Howrah Bridge.

The bridge had two sections that covered the entire pool joining both the sides. The bridge was also lighted up by electricity. The length of the bridge was 1528 ft. and its width was 62 ft. There are two 7 ft. wide pavements on both sides of the bridge for the pedestrians and the 48 ft. road with 8 lanes allows passage of traffics and serves commuters 24 hrs.