The Bengal government continued to look for alternatives and several decades later the new bridge was finally commissioned.

Pontoon bridge howrah. A pontoon bridge is a collection of specialized shallow draft boats or floats connected together to cross a river or canal with a track or deck attached on top. However that bridge was not equipped to bear either the heavy traffic in the area or any adverse weather condition. Howrah Bridge is popularly known as The Gateway Of Kolkata.

Between Howrah and Calcutta is the famous iron Pontoon Bridge called Hooghly-Bridge The width of the Hooghly River between the bank of the river Howrah side and the Armenian ghat on the opposite side is about 600 yards Rev C Cesry. Howrah Pontoon Bridge From Graces Guide. Designed by the late Sir Bradford Leslie it had a total length of 1528 feet between centers of abutments and provided a 48 feet roadway and two 7 feet footways.

Subhajit Basu English Version. In other words the British. 18556 In the view of the increasing traffic across the Hooghly river a committee was appointed to review alternatives for constructing a bridge across it.

That bridge had the capability to unfasten so that ferry and ocean steamers can cross it. In 1862 when India was under British rule the Government of Bengal first started looking into the feasibility of building a bridge connecting Kolkata and Howrah. 185960 The plan was shelved 1868 The plan was revived when it was decided that a bridge should be constructed and a newly appointed trust vested to manage it.

Figure 1Howrah Bridge The first bridge to serve this ever-growing city was a pontoon bridge Figure 2 designed by Sir Bradford Leslie with a removable central section of 60m 200ft that allowed steam-powered watercrafts to cross over to upstream moorings. The Howrah Bridge is one of the most recognised landmarks in Kolkata. The famous Floating Pontoon Bridge the old Howrah Bridge was built in 1874 by Sir Bradford Leslie.

However to keep up with the payload of transportations the bridge was reconstructed with massive steel cantilever structure and was reopened as grand bridge with 8 lane. The water buoyancy supports the boats limiting the maximum load to the total and point buoyancy of the pontoons or boats. The Howrah Bridge or the Rabindra Setu The old Howrah Bridge a floating pontoon Bridge was opened in October 1874 and made over to Port Commissioners who managed and maintained it.