After a delay of 14 years, Delhi's Signature Bridge was opened for public on Monday.
Projected as India’s first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge, with the gesture 'namaste', the bridge is double the height of Qutub Minar.
The new landmark connect the Wazirabad across the river Yamuna to the inner city and will reduce the travel time between north and northeast Delhi.
The bridge will be a big relief to huge number of commuters who were earlier stuck up in long traffic jams over a narrow bridge in Wazirabad area. The bridge will reduce the commuting time between northeast areas and the inner city from 45 minutes to just 10 minutes, saving the pollution and fuel, a government statement said. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo
The boomerang shaped pylon consists of two inclined columns, which are rigidly connected to the driving lanes and bend mid-way. The upper portion of the pylon anchors the backstay cables as well as the main-span cables, arranged in a harp like manner, the statement said. The pylon from a distance looks like hands folded in a greeting posture. Its top is created by a 22-metre high steel-glass structure, which will provide a panoramic view of Delhi. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo
Visitors will be taken in four elevators with a total capacity of carrying 50 people to a 154-metre-high glass box on the top of the bridge to provide them a bird's-eye view of the city, the statement said.. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI Photo
The Western and Eastern approaches to bridge will connect the nearby areas like Timarpur, Nehru Vihar, Wazirabad, Aruna Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar on Ring Road to Bhajanpura on Mangal Pandey Marg. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo
Announced in 2004, the bridge missed several deadlines since 2011. The proposal for the bridge, mooted in 2004, received approval of the Delhi Cabinet in 2007. It was initially expected to be completed at a modified estimate of Rs 1,131 crore for the Commonwealth Games, held in Delhi in October 2010. In 2015, the cost of the project rose to Rs 1,594 crore. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI Photo
With inputs from PTI