Padma Bridge | A Dream of the Country

The dream of the Padma Bridge has been seen for a long time. The work started in the project by a Prefeasibility Study, in the year 2000. The purpose of Pre-feasibility Study was to find the most suitable place for the Padma Bridge. The consulting firm was told that our main objective is to cross the river so that the vehicles can go other side the river. The consultant first took the study of the bridge and tunnels. It was seen that the cost of the tunnel would be much higher.

Many factors have to be considered in the Feasibility Study, in some ways, more vehicles will be attracted, which means that the road is most needed by the people, or the need for more people. Secondly, where the direction of the river is comparatively less variable Padma can move for a couple of kilometers in some years. For the site to be selected, which has been stabilized for a long time that means the river has been in the same place for a long time. In this case, Mawa-Jazirai was also found suitable.

The work of designing this Padma bridge begins in 2009. A team of national and international level genius was formed to design a detailed design plan of the Padma Bridge, which was headed by AECOM. The Bangladesh Bridge Authority constitutes a panel, 5 national and 5 international level experts. The work of this panel was reviewed after a specific time in the Padma bridge design review.

A Shipping Study is done while designing the bridge. The study was about the height of the bridge over the water which will ensure ships to move through the bridge. The Bangladesh Inland Waterway Transport Authority (BIWTA) reports that at least three spans should be 18.3 meters (60 feet) high from the height recorded during the flood.

The unpredictable river Padma, with a stream of water, goes away with a large amount of soil. Again, there is a lot of silt deposited with the torrent. The river broke its path and changed its course. It was seen that the bridge is in one place but the river broke and changed its way to another direction. As a result, making the bridge was almost futile. That's why it is almost impossible to estimate the place where the span is high enough to go up to the next 100 years.

Finally it was decided that the number of high spans will be increased so that ships can cross easily. All spans will be made taller enough to be around 4.8 km in the middle of the river so that ships can go under any of them. The river Padma is a very torrential river. With its tendency to scour down the river (bottom soil) and simultaneously its location in an earthquake location, there is also a considerable challenge in designing the bridges and also during preparation.

During the design of the Padma Bridge, a detailed study was conducted on earthquake done by BUET. Two levels of earthquake were studied:

1. Operating Level Earthquake: It is possible to have 1 time in 100 years, 65%. It is terrible than the quake or earthquake sometimes occurs in the country, but less harmful than the next level.
2. Contingency Level Earthquake: This earthquake is very Savior’s level. It comes 475 years once. It is possible to have this type of quake on the Bridge 20% in 100 years of life.

The main challenges of Padma Multipurpose Bridge are:

• The work of river administration
• Every year the flood
• Its position in earthquake prone location
• Deep Pile Foundation
• The soft clay below the river
• Extreme Scour depth
• Rehabilitation of the people who will be affected
• For the project, reduce the damage of nature as much as possible for the project.
• Land acquisition
• After contracting all these companies, adjust them among them
• Build Padma Bridge with own funding

Now in 2017 Mawa of Munshiganj district, Shibchar of Madaripur district and Jajira in Shariatpur district are celebrating the festival. It's a dream-implementation festival, dream of Padma Bridge is becoming true. The construction work is going on in the night and on the banks of the Padma River in full swing. The Bangladesh Army is supervising all the construction work of the bridge. The government's plan is to open the Padma Bridge for the transports at the end of the year 2018. The below information provided by the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges about the Padma bridge project:

1. Named as Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project
2. Padma bridge type is double-faced. This bridge is being constructed with concrete and steel
3. Total cost of the Padma bridge project (main bridge) 28 thousand 793 Crore and 39 lac BDT
4. The government allocated BDT 524 Crore for the fiscal year 2017-18 in the Padma Bridge project
5. River governance cost 8 thousand 707 million and 81 million BDT
6. China Railway Group Limited is the name of the contract company for Padma bridge project
7. The Padma Bridge will have gas, electricity and optical fiber connection transportation facilities
8. Padma Bridge Rail Line will be installed on the bottom floor
9. The width of Padma Bridge will be 72 feet – four lanes
10. The length of Padma Bridge is 6: 15 kilometers long
11. Viaduct is 3.18 kilometers of Padma Bridge
12. The bridge connecting the Padma Bridge at two points (Jazira and Mawa) 14 kilometers
13. The Padma bridge project has been ruled by river system at two side total 12 kilometers area
14. About 4,000 people are working on the Padma bridge project
15. Viaduct pillar number is 81 of Padma Bridge
16. From the water level, the height of the Padma Bridge will be around 60 feet
17. The piling depth of Padma Bridge is 383 feet
18. Total number of pillars in the Padma Bridge is 42
19. Six piers for every pillar
20. The total number of pilgrims in the Padma Bridge is 264
21. Construction of Padma Bridge will end in December 2012

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