Bandra Worli Sea Link – India’s Civil Marvel

When we talk about moving from western suburbs to islands of Mumbai, the only way out till today was Mahim causeway. But today with the grand opening of Bandra Worli Sea Link Project by Sonia Gandhi would make the life of commuters much more easy. Earlier with the non availability of any other route, the distance of 8 km took nearly 40 minutes but with the opening of this Indian engineering marvel, the distance would be covered in just under 10 minutes.

Talking about the engineering side of this project, these two cable-stayed bridges, one 600-metre-long at Bandra channel and the other twin-tower supported 350-metre-long at the Worli channel are one of its kind in India. This eight lane bridge has a cable stayed tower which is of almost 43 storey building height. The Cable Stay system comprises 2,250 km of high strength galvanized steel wires which support this bulky 20,000 ton structure. Several teams of engineers from Canada, China, Egypt, Switzerland, Britain, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Serbia, Indonesia and the Philippines have worked on the project.

It is built with the cost of more than 1,650 crore and it took 10 years to built it. Construction was marred by litigation from environmentalists and fisherman. But finally it was built with much changes. But it is believed that it would save almost 100 crore per day in form of time and fuel.

Some other facts about Bandra Worli Sea Link

1.The bridge’s lighting is done at a cost of about Rs 9-crore (Rs 90 million) by Bajaj Electricals
2. Bandra-Worli sea link is likely to consume 1,000 KW power a day and this would be supplied by Reliance Power and the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport.
3. It is built as BOT i.e built, operate and transfer. A toll plaza is installed and each commuter has to pay for using this sea link

Here is a video we got hold on youtube. Thanks to our visitor – Sanjana who sent this link to us.

India’s 11 Super Expressways

India, a developing country has world’s third largest road network but when we talk about expressways, we can hardly name a few like Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. So we decided to tell you about some of the other expressways in India.

Here is the list of India’s top 11 Super Expressways

1) Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway
Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway is 95 km long and joins Ahmedabad and Baroda in Gujarat. It is also referred as National Expressway 1. This expressway was opened to public in 2004 and was constructed under the Golden Quadrilateral Project by NHAI.

2) Mumbai-Pune Expressway
Mumbai-Pune Expressway (official name is the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway) is 93 km long and is considered as one of the best expressways in India. It is India’s first six lane high speed expressway and was made by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) at a staggering cost of Rs 1,630 crore (US$363.49 million). It was opened to public in April 2002

3) Jaipur-Kishangarh Expressway
Jaipur-Kishangarh Expressway is 90km long and it connects Jaipur with Kishangarh. It was constructed under the Golden Quadrilateral National Highways Development Project and its cost was USD 154 million. More than 20,000 vehicles pass from this highway everyday.

4) Allahabad Bypass
Allahabad Bypass covers a distance of 86 km and is one of the most remarkable achievements of the Golden Quadrilateral project. It connects India’s four main metropolians New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

5) Ambala Chandigarh Expressway
Ambala Chandigarh Expressway covers a distance of 35 km and has reduced the traffic congestion to a much greater extent. It was opened in 2009 and was built at a cost of Rs 298 crore ($66.45 million)

6) Chennai Bypass
Chennai Bypass covers a distance of 32 km and connects four national highways (NH45, NH4, NH205 and NH5) around Chennai. The cost of this project was Rs 405 crore (Rs 4.05 billion).

7) Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway
Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway covers a distance of 28 km and has been a life saver for commuters. Before construction of this expressway huge traffic jams were seen on the roads. Though this problem has not been solved 100% but still this expressway has brought some relief to the commuters. Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway starts at Dhaula Kuan in Delhi and ends at Manesar which is on the outskirts of Gurgaon. The cost of this project was $223 million and it was opened for public use in January 2008.

8 ) Noida-Greater Noida Expressway
Noida-Greater Noida Expressway covers a distance of 24.53 km. This six-lane highway connects Noida to Greater Noida. The total cost to build this expressway is about 400 crores (Rs 4 billion).

9) Delhi Noida Direct Flyway
Delhi Noida Direct Flyway or popularly known as the DND flyway is an eight lane road having a total length of 9.2 km and connects Delhi to Noida. It was built by The Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd.

10) Hyderabad elevated expressway
Two separate elevated expressways were to be constructed in Hyderabad to overcome the congestion problem. The first one is P.V. Narasimha Rao Elevated Expressway which covers a distance of 11.6 km and the other Rajiv Elevated Expressway which will cover the distance of 20 km. P.V. Narasimha Rao Elevated Expressway was completed in 2009 and it connects Hyderabad International Airport to Mehdipatnam. Rajiv Elevated Expressway was proposed as an extension and will cover Secunderabad-Shamirpet stretch via Karkhana, Trimulgherry and Bollarum. But this project is currently under suspension due to high project costs.

11) Hosur Road Elevated Expressway
Hosur Road Elevated Expressway covers a distance of 9.98 km and connects Bangalore to Hosur. This expressway has the distinction of becoming the tallest expressway in Bangalore at the height of 17 meters i.e. 56 ft. This project was started in 2006 by BETL and was inaugurated on 22 January 2010.
We have many more expressways in India which are under construction or are already approved but work has not started yet. But still India needs many more of those expressways, to reduce the traveling time and for better connectivity across other Indian cities and states.

India’s Coolest Buildings

Below is the list of some of the coolest buildings of India. The infrastructure is on boom now and we expect more of such buildings to come up soon.

1) i-flex solutions, Bangalore
Located at C.V Raman Nagar Bangalore, i-flex building has a peculiar design, architecture and superb infrastructure which distinguishes it from the other buildings . i-flex solutions is a world leader when it comes to provide solutions for Financial Sector.

2) Signature Towers, Gurgaon
Signature Towers have become the best designed office complexes in India due to its unique identity. It has a neat design and is equipped with the latest state of art technology and this is the prime reason that most of the leading multinational and Indian companies have chosen to operate their businesses from Signature Towers. The perfect location just a few hundred meters off the National Highway 8 in Gurgaon adds to the value of these towers.

3) Adobe-India’s Headquarters
Adobe-India’s Headquarters is located at NOIDA, a suburb of New Delhi. It is on an independent plot with a total carpet area of 2,00,000 square feet.In keeping with the spirit of Adobe the innovative design and bright colors characterize the new complex reflecting the vibrant and fun filled work environment. The building has state of art system for Engineering services and hence effectively combines the latest in technology with simply no- fussy, comfortable and conveniently designed work spacesAdobe building.

4) Gateway Tower Gurgaon
Gateway Tower as is appropriately coined, acts as the gateway to the 3000-acre landmark city of DLF. This 12-storey complex is spread across an area of 1.15 acres.With its ship-like shape, Gateway Tower presents futuristic architecture, which is also reflected in its interiors with floor plates measuring to 85,000 sq.ft. The unique feature of this complex is its high visibility and compact office space. The tenants comprises of Ariba, Planet Sports, Corning, Cargill, Innodata, Korn and Ferry, GE Plastics to name a few.

5) Gigaspace IT Park Pune
Gigaspace IT Park in pune comprises state-of-art Intelligent Buildings that incorporate up to date technology, which creates a healthy, more productive and energy conserving work environment, critical factors in a 24x7x365 work scenario.The buildings also conform to Vaastu Shastra norms. A key feature is a great number of buildings, each with and optimum plate area. The buildings vary from 60,000 sq.ft to 150,000 sq.ft. with floor plates of 12,000 to 30,000 sq.ft.

6) HSBC Building Pune
HSBC in Pune has a team of 1400+ professionals operating from a state-of-the-art building in Kalyani Nagar, which has become a landmark in Pune due to its surroundings, ambience and international work culture.GLT is expanding its infrastructure with an adjacent building to cater to the expected growth in the current year.

7) Infinity Towers, Kolkata 

Located at Rajarhat in New Town, Kolkata; DLF IT Park is designed by the renowned architect Hafeez Contractor.With a super area of 1.3 million sq.ft, this complex of three independent towers and a retail complex is built around a large landscaped garden.It has large, efficient floor plates, wide column span and high floor-to-floor clearances. With a premium building finish and a combination of attractive glass facade, stones and metal panels, the buildings will stand out as the new generation workplace. The design ensures that while the retail complex provides the facilities for the office area, it does not impinge on the office area by virtue of its clearly separated traffic flow.

8 ) Infosys Multiplex, Mysore
A key highlight of the Mysore campus is the multiplex and auditorium complex which has a capacity of 1,300.The complex also houses 3 multiplex theatres with a capacity of 150 seats each.

9) Statesman House, Delhi
Statesman House is located in Barakhamba Road in the middle of Connaught Place and is one of the most imposing structures in Delhi.It’s a huge circular building and is quite majestic. Statesman House recently received occupation certificate and has found takers from the banking, finance and insurance sectors.