Meghna Bridge - -NA- 5.35

Meghna Bridge is a road bridge in Bangladesh. It was built with the assistance of Japan and officially named Japan Bangladesh Friendship Bridge 1, but it is popularly known as Meghna Bridge. According to a study conducted in 2004 by the Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh, residents living around the Meghna Bridge recognized several positive impacts after the construction of the bridge.LocationMeghna Bridge is 30km southeast of Dhaka across the Meghna River, which is one of the major rivers in the country. The bridge is located along the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway. The geographic coordinate of the Meghna Bridge is.HistoryMeghna Bridge was built with the financial help from the Government of Japan. It was constructed by the Nippon Koei Co. Ltd., (an independent engineering consulting firm in Japan that has been involved in projects in more than 80 countries). The bridge was opened on February 1, 1991.Meghna Bridge is the single largest project with Japanese assistance in the world.In 2005, the bridge underwent extensive repair because the expansion joints of the bridge were damaged due to the lack of appropriate maintenance.ArchitectureMeghna Bridge is a cantilever and girder bridge. It is 930m in length with dual carriageway and 9.2m in width. The bridge has thirteen spans. Two among the individual spans are of 24.25m in length each, one is of 48.3m in length, nine spans are of 87m in length each and the length of the rest is 18.2m. The carriage way of the bridge is 7.2m. The foundations are supported on RCC caissons and piles. Piled foundation of abutments are buried. RCC caissons which are used as foundation under the piers are also buried. Both abutments and the piers of the bridge are RCC solid type. The piers of the bridge are hexagonal. Each pier is of 11m in length and 3.2m in width.