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| January 2005 (12.804 Degrees, 80.243 Degrees) Muttukadu River Bridge The piers have an interesting shape, with mini-cutwaters on both sides. I also like the shape of the balusters that support the rail. The outer edge of the bridge deck is discolored as if it was overtopped by a tsunami. |
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| January 2005 (12.804 Degrees, 80.243 Degrees) Muttukadu River Bridge |
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| February 2001 (23.3058, 70.4203) Route 8 Bridges |
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| February 2001 (23.040 Degrees, 72.573 Degrees) Subhash Bridge |
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February 2001 (23.040 Degrees, 72.573 Degrees) Subhash Bridge This photo shows the activity on the deck of the Subhash Bridge across the Submarti River in Ahmedabad. A nice thing about Indian traffic is its mix of bikes, three-wheeled taxis, cars, trucks, herds of cows, etc. |
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February 2001 (23.040 Degrees, 72.573 Degrees) Subhash Bridge This bridge is near Mahatma Gandhi's ashram on the banks of the Subarmati River. The ashram is now one of several museums in Ahmedabad that tell the story of Gandhi's life and work. The Subarmati River is quite dry in the photo but it can overtop the bridges that cross the Subarmati River during the monsoon season (June to September). |
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February 2001, Bridge near Bhuj I'm afraid I overexposed this photo while playing around with the black and white settings on my first digital camera. This bridge uses large wheels for barrier rails across the wide river. I'm greatly impressed by how these women can be so charming and beautiful while carrying 50 pounds of water on their heads. And what gorgeous saris. |
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February 2001 (20.714 Degrees, 70.996 Degrees) Bridge at Diu Until 1961, Diu was a Portuguese colony in Southern Gujurat. That was when the Indian government got tired of negotiations and sent in jet fighters to disburse the last of Portugal's colonial presence in Diu. Fortunately, they didn't damage this handsome bridge, which was part of the Portuguese fortifications. The fort and bridge were made of sandstone and mortar with many handsome architectural details. This bridge provided the inhabitants of the fort access to the Arabian Sea. |
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| February 2001 (22.813 Degrees, 70.853 Degrees) Old Majur Bridge A long multi-span stone masonry arch bridge across the Machu River. It supported railroad tracks on one side of the piers, two lanes of traffic above the piers, and a pedestrian walkway on the other side of the pier. Perhaps the continuous rail helped keep the railway atop the bridge but several spans of the pedestrian walkway toppled about 50 feet onto the dry river bed during the 2001 earthquake. |
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| February 2001 (22.823 Degrees, 70.839 Degrees) Pada Pul Bridge This 700 m long masonry arch bridge crosses the wide and occasionally dangerous Machchhu River in the City of Morbi. The arches are made with white stones, the piers and closed spandrel walls are made with dark stones, and the finely detailed rail is made from wrought iron. The bridge looks old, perhaps from before India was made a colony of the Britain. I ordered a book, "The Ancient Bridges of India," by Jean Delouche on Amazon. Perhaps it will give me more insight into this bridge's origins. I stood on the old Majur Bridge across the Machchhu River when I took these photos.  |
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After crossing the Gulf of Kutch we arrived in the ancient city of Morbi. Bridges sometimes have sculptures commemorating an ancient victory. This bridge has two beautiful stallions instead, running free without riders. I don't know that much about Indian history, but I imagine a great Maharaja made this city the capital of his kingdom. Many of the bridges and buildings remain dramatic and beautiful. Today, it looks like another culture inhabits the ruins of an alien civilization. However we shouldn't mourn. The few museums I visited (the converted palaces of the raja) suggested that the population were his slaves. Still, Morbi is very beautiful. We'll look at another of Morbi's dramatic bridges tomorrow. |
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| February 2001 (23.215 Degrees, 70.711 Degrees) New Surajbari Bridge The new Surajbari Bridge is a 36 span cast-in-place T girder bridge with short cantilevers between the supports. During the Bhuj earthquake some of the elastomeric bearings were damaged causing vertical misalignment between the spans (see below).  This bridge is important to the economy of the region. Thousands of trucks cross the Gulf of Kutch every day, carrying goods to and from Kandla Port (see below). The old bridge couldn't carry heavy vehicles due to earthquake damage and so the government rushed to repair and complete the new bridge a month after the earthquake.  |
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| February 2001(23.200 Degrees, 70.716 Degrees) Old Surajbari Bridge The Gulf of Kutch at Surajbari is a wide tidal flat. The old bridge across the Gulf was a haunched reinforced concrete bridge with drop in spans that was damaged by the 2001 earthquake. After the earthquake traffic continued on a single lane with alternating directions of traffic. Meanwhile, they hurried to complete the New Surajbari Bridge a mile to the north, which was also damaged by the earthquake. |
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| February 2001 (23.3058, 70.4203) Route 8 Bridges This roadway bridge near Vondh (as well as many other bridges in Gujurat) were damaged by the 2001 M7.6 Bhuj earthquake. It was an interplate boundary earthquake caused by India's movement north into Asia. A similar event in 1819 caused the Indus River to change its course. |
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| February 2001 (23.3058, 70.4203) Route 8 Bridges This railroad bridge is just a pair of steel girders that supports ties and rails. No bridge deck and no ballast. Apparently such a minimalist approach works since one percent of India's population (over 10 million people) travel by rail every day. |
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| February 2001 (23.3058, 70.4203) Route 8 Bridges Just past the town of Vondh, National Highway 8 and the adjacent railway cross a braided river bed. The railway is carried by an undamaged steel girder bridge but the parallel roadway bridge is on shoring while the masonry is repaired. A little to the south is a new roadway and a new bridge that was also slightly damaged by the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. Can anyone tell us what is written on the railway bridge abutment? |
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| February 2001( 23.3893 Degrees, 69.7708 Degrees) Highway 4 Slab Bridge near Lodai, Gujarat, India River crossings continue to evolve with the addition of pier walls and additional slabs to span whatever size river needs to be crossed. And these simple bridges can carry everything from camel carts to dump trucks.  |
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| February 2001( 23.3893 Degrees, 69.7708 Degrees) Highway 4 Slab Bridge near Lodai, Gujarat, India The next step up from culverts with headwalls is a bridge composed of stone abutments and a reinforced concrete slab. Behind the abutments are short retaining walls that support the embankments. There may have once been a barrier rail on the deck that got knocked off by the earthquake (or by passing vehicles). I wonder if trees are planted on river banks beside bridges or if the trees just find it to be a beneficial place to grow? |
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| February 2001( 23.3893 Degrees, 69.7708 Degrees) Highway 4 Culvert Bridge near Lodai, Gujarat, India The height of the headwall may be designed to provide enough head to clean the culvert of debris during storms. Since concrete is expensive and labor is cheap, many of these walls are built of stone by skilled masons with pointed mortar joints. I've forgotten what the arrows and numbers painted on the sides of the walls facing oncoming traffic signify. Nicely paved roads like Route 4 are maintained by the Gujarat State Roads and Buildings Department. We were in India (as usual) to study the damage a large earthquake had caused to infrastructure. We were impressed at the efficiency with which the road department repaired roads and bridges and removed all the earthquake damage that was placed along the roads. The Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation had the same responsibility after the recent Tohoku Earthquake. |
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| February 2001( 23.3893 Degrees, 69.7708 Degrees) Highway 4 Culvert Bridge A view from the road at yesterday's culvert bridge. This structure just qualifies as a bridge, which is a structure that provides passage over an obstacle (usually water). The six 24" pipes seem inadequate for the volume of water the riverbed can carry. Still, it looks like it's survived many floods. In India you are encouraged to hire a driver. There's not much traffic on this road, but in the cities the roads fill up with cars going in every direction. An elaborate and constant honking of horns alerts the drivers of each other's intentions. Although this area looks somewhat desolate, it's actually filled with villages of people who can't afford automobiles. |
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| February 2001( 23.3893 Degrees, 69.7708 Degrees) Highway 4 Culvert Bridge In an earlier blog (August 26, 2011) I discussed the options available when two roads cross (stop sign, turnabout, bridge, interchange, etc.). In this blog I want to briefly discuss the options available when a river and a road cross. For dry or shallow riverbeds, an economical option is a ford. The ford (also called a causeway) is carefully designed to carry the occasional storm runoff without flooding or eroding the road and without endangering the passing motorist. The roadway usually dips down and a concrete slab is provided across the roadway to carry the water. Probably the most common solution for carrying low volumes of water is providing a culvert under the road. Culverts can vary from small diameter pipes (shown above) to 10 ft by 10 ft multi-cell boxes. When the flow is too large to be safely carried by a ford or a culvert, a bridge is provided. The area (and height) under the bridge is designed to handle the 100 year runoff (I think the criteria varies depending on the agency you have to satisfy). I learned how to calculate runoff using nomographs, which allowed me to pass my engineering license exam many years ago. The term 'bridge' usually refers to a water crossing. What other options are there? I've seen a bridge carrying a river (with boats) over a road but that's not too common. |
