Saraighat Bridge

Saraighat Bridge, Guwahati Overview

Built over the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati, Saraighat Bridge is the first railway-cum-road bridge. The construction of the bridge was started in 1958 and it was first inaugurated for goods trucks in 1962, by the then Prime Minister- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. A year later, on 7th June 1963, it was open to public traffic. The double-decker bridge has a road highway on top with a rail line below. Originally built for the North Frontier Railway, the bridge is a vital link between North East region and the rest of the country; it has Lachit Borphukan Park situated on the south end and Chilarai Park situated on the north end.
The bridge recently completed 50 years of its existence and a research study by a bunch of experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) suggest that the bridge is still good to go for a couple more years before it would need any kind of renovation. The 1.4 kms long bridge connects both banks of the Brahmaputra river in Saraighat, which is a small town famous for the huge war between Ahoms and Mughals. An adjacent three lane concrete bridge was also created and inaugurated in 2017.