The Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) , officially the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, is a cable-stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete viaduct approaches, which links Bandra and the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli and central Mumbai, and is the first phase of the proposed West Island Freeway system.
Bandra Worli Sea link bridge is a 8 Km long stretch with cable strayed bridge which connects between Bandra and the westers sub urrbans of Mumbai with Worli and Central Mumbai with Rs.1600 Crore Project and it took 8 years to construct the bridge. This project was conceived in 1990 but plagued by Public litigation interest from fishermen and environmentalists.
The work started from October 2004. The Work has been awarded to Hindustan Construction Company Ltd by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.
The Inauguration of the Bandra Worli Sea Link Bridge will be done by Congress Party Chief Leader Sonia Gandhi on 30th June 2009.
The sealink will enable the travel time from 60-75 minutes drive will be reduced to 7 minutes through this link.
All the 8 lanes were opened to traffic on 24 March 2010
Challenging task
The project envisages construction of 8 lane Sea link freeway from the interchange of Mahim intersection at the Bandra end to Worli Sea face on Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road . The Construction of the sea link project is divided into four packages namely Package I,Package II, Package III and Package IV. The Package IV executed by HCC forms the main and the most technically challenging construction package of this project.
Engineering challenges
Before undertaking the construction, there were several major challenges to be addressed namely
The foundations of the bridge included 604 large diameter shafts drilled to lengths of 6m to 34m in geotechnical conditions that varied from highly weathered volcanic material to massive high strength rocks.
The superstructure of the approach bridges were the heaviest spans in the country to be built with span-by-span method using overhead gantry through a series of vertical and horizontal curves.
A one-of-its-kind, diamond shaped 128m high concrete tower with flaring lower legs, converging upper legs, unified tower head housing the stays and a throughout varying cross section along the height of tower.
Erection of 20000 MT Bandra cable-stayed deck supported on stay cables within a very close tolerance of deviations in plan and elevation.
New-age building technology
The Bandra Worli Sealink is the first of its kind in a number of ways. A number of unique equipment are being used in this project. The unique distinguishing feature of this project is deployment of Asian Hercules, one of the biggest floating sheerleg cranes in the world, for shifting of 1200 MT Launching Girders in sea and specially manufactured equipment for erection of cable stay bridge segments.
Intresting Facts:
- 1.40 lakh cars a day:The eight-lane flyover will have capacity of carrying about 1.40 lakh cars per day. Large multi-axel vehicles and two-wheelers would not be allowed on the sea link. Speed limit would have to be maintained at 100 km/hr. As the project is being implemented on BOT basis, there would be a minimum toll of Rs 30 per vehicle.
- Length of the steel wires used is equal to the circumference of the earth.Weight of the Sealink Bridge is equivalent to the weight of 50,000 African elephantsHeight of the cable-stay towers equals that of a 43 storied building and the length of the Sealink Bridge is 63 times the height of the Qutub Minar.
- The Bandra Worly sea link project has certain unique features. These include:--An 8-lane bridge with 2 lanes dedicated for buses.--Unique bridge design for the Link Bridge to emerge as a land mark structure in the city.
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