Delhi’s new bridge opens after clash
575-METRE-LONG SIGNATURE BRIDGE SET TO REDUCE CONGESTION ON WAZIRABAD BRIDGE
After missing many deadlines, the much-awaited Signature Bridge on the Yamuna river was inaugurated yesterday by Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and will open to the public today.
The opening came after a clash between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers at the site, with BJP Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari — also an MP — punching a policeman during the fracas before order was restored.
Claimed by the government to be the country’s first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge, the pylons of which symbolise the Indian hand greeting of ‘namaste’, the bridge will help people enjoy a panoramic view of the city from a 154-metre high observation deck, to open in around two months.
The 575-metre-long suspension bridge, first proposed in 2004 and approved by the Delhi cabinet in 2007, will reduce travel times between north and north-east Delhi.
The bridge will reduce traffic congestion on the existing Wazirabad bridge.