New 6-lane bridge across Ganga to connect Allahabad
09 Jun 2018
The government has approved the construction of a new 6-lane bridge with its approaches across River Ganga at Phaphamau in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, at an estimated cost of Rs1,948.25 crore.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) approved the project for construction of a 9.9-km long, new 6-lane bridge across river Ganga on NH-96 at Phaphamau in Allahabad with total capital cost of Rs1948.25 crore.
The construction period for the project is three years and is likely to be completed by December 2021. The new bridge will resolve the traffic congestion on existing old 2-lane Phaphamau bridge on NH-96 at Allahabad.
The new bridge will also facilitate to the large congregation of people at Holy City Allahabad during Kumbh, Ardh-Kumbh and other yearly ritual baths at the 'Sangam' in Prayag. This will give a boost to pilgrimage tourism and local economy of Holy city of Prayag, says a government release.
This new 6-lane bridge will also be beneficial for the Lucknow and Faizabad bound traffic coming from Madhya Pradesh via National Highway 27 and National Highway 76 through Naini Bridge.
The new bridge project will also generate 9.20 lakh mandays of direct employment during construction.
At present all the Allahabad bound traffic coming from National Highway 96, National Highway 24 B, Asian Highway 1 and other local highways are using the existing old 2-lane bridge at Phaphamau for crossing the River Ganga.
There is no entry for goods vehicles on this bridge from 6 am to 11 pm. The present traffic on the old bridge is about 40,000 PCUs (passenger car units), which is far higher than its designed capacity of 15,000 PCUs, resulting in severe trafic jams over the bridge day and night. The new 6-lane bridge will decongest the old bridge and will also ensure fast and safe movement for traffic.
The number of bridges on river Ganges between Allahabad and Farakka will go up from 13 bridges before 2014 to 33 with the construction of an additional 20 bridges, out of which five have already been opened to traffic and seven are under construction.
The Phaphamau bridge would be therefore 29th Bridge on river Ganges between Allahabad and Farakka.