The iconic Howrah Bridge, turned 75 on Saturday. On the night of February 3, 1943, the bridge — believed to be the target of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force — was open to the public.
A brief history of the structure that reflects the pulse of the city:
- The Howrah Bridge Act, 1926, was enacted to provide for construction, maintenance and control of a new bridge across the river Hooghly between Kolkata and Howrah
- The Kolkata Port Trust is now the custodian of the bridge
- It is 2,150 feet long, with a clear span of 1,500 feet, and the highest point is 300 feet above ground level
- A tramcar was the first vehicle to roll down from the city-end to the station-end
- It was the third largest cantilever bridge at the time of its launch
- Consulting engineers, Rendel Palmer & Tritton, dealt with the construction. Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company of Darlington were the contractors
- Tata Steel (then Tata Iron & Steel Company) supplied 23,500 tonnes of steel. The fabrication was done by Braithwaite, Burn & Jessop Construction at four different shops in Kolkata
- Around 3,000 tonnes of steel and a number of special items were made in England
- In 2003, paan-spit and bird droppings were found to have damaged the health of the structure
- The Kolkata Port Trust provided Rs 6.5 million to paint 2.2 million sq metres of the bridge. Around 26,500 litres of paint was used
- An inspection in 2011 showed spitting had reduced the thickness of the bridge from six millimetres to less than three millimetres
- Between 2013 and 2016 the expenditure for average annual maintenance was around Rs 25 million
- Around 100,000 vehicles and 150,000 pedestrians use it on a daily basis