Jamuna Bridge

Difference the project has made

The Jamuna can now be crossed by rail or road in a matter of minutes. Before the bridge was built, people had to rely on slower ferry services – often cancelled in bad weather.

The bridge is credited with an enormous socio-economic impact on the region, by linking the northwestern districts of Bangladesh to the rest of the country.

The structure carries electricity and gas – helping tie Bangladesh’s power and gas networks into a national grid.

How the work was done

The Jamuna is a ‘braided’ river. This means it flows through a number of small channels separated by temporary islands of sediment. These islands often change shape over a wide area.

An early challenge for engineers was to ‘train’ the Jamuna using guide banks – these were designed to narrow the width of the river from 14km to less than 5km.

Guide banks – sometimes known as guide bunds - are embankment-like structures. They’re usually constructed of sand with a stone facing. Built parallel or nearly parallel to the direction of a river’s flow, they’re used to redirect water.

Engineers used the guide banks to narrow the river at the point the bridge would cross. A shorter bridge meant fewer materials were needed for construction – saving costs.

The Jamuna is deep and fast flowing during flood season, but it’s shallow for most of the year. This saw engineers transporting materials for the guide banks from the coast by barge – 300km away.

The ground the bridge was to be built on is unstable, and the area can be hit by earthquakes. This meant engineers had to build particularly solid foundations for the structure.

The project team used tubular steel piles for the scheme’s foundations. These were driven into the river bed and filled with concrete. It took nine months to sink the 121 piles needed for the structure.