The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has begun preliminary works on the construction of a bridge over river Yamuna, under Phase IV. This will come up between the existing two bridges, Wazirabad Bridge and Signature Bridge on the Yamuna connecting Soorghat Metro Station and Sonia Vihar Metro Station of the Majilis Park-Maujpur Metro corridor. This will be the 5th bridge over the Yamuna and will be 560 meters long.
The other four bridges are at Kashmere Gate-Shastri Park (Red Line), Indraprastha-Yamuna Bank (Blue Line), Okhla Bird Sanctuary-Kalind Kunj (Magenta Line), and Sarai Kale Khan-Mayur Vihar Phase I (Pink Line).
The bridge will be constructed using the Piling method unlike the usual Well Foundation method by taking into consideration the rocky strata at the location and casting piles is under progress. A cofferdam, which is a watertight enclosure built within or across water bodies to allow the construction work below the waterline has also been constructed at the site. This has been done in order to make use of the available time during monsoon and has taken into care the level of adjacent road which is essential for the supply of construction materials.
The bridge will also be the first-ever Metro Bridge to be constructed using the Cantilever method over the Yamuna. This is a structure which is anchored at only one end while the other end projects horizontally into space. This is a very rigid construction and can be built without false-works below nor temporary supporting cables above.
‘Building Information Modeling’ (BIM) technology was used to create a 3D model of the bridge, which enabled the DMRC engineers to finalize the design during the pandemic.
The bridge has received approval from all concerned agencies for its construction and all eco-friendly measures have been adopted by DMRC to protect the floodplain and scientifically dispose of all construction-related debris.
The construction of Phase IV of Delhi Metro had begun in December last year.
