The Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the three-lane 1.5 km long Koliwar bridge over the Sone River in Bihar.An amount of Rs. 266 crores have been spent on the construction of a six-lane bridge in place of the existing 138 years two lanes bridge which has been used for both rail and traffic. Once the construction of other carriageway is completed, the traffic on NH-30 and NH-922 will ease substantially. The bridge acts as a major road for transport between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Construction of bridges to increase the connectivity in Bihar:

• The 7-km four-lane Koshi Bridge which is worth Rs. 1,478 crores is likely to be completed by 2023.

• The tender for Vikramshila Bridge which is 4 km long and worth Rs. 1,110 crores have also been issued and its construction is most likely to be completed in 2024.

• The work on the Buxar bridge will also be completed by 2021. It will provide an alternative route of 250 km which will take only 6 to 8 hours for travel.

• A five km long bridge of four-lane over Ganga river has also been announced near the existing bridge in Patna and its agreement was signed in October 2020. It will be a unique bridge with a 242-meter span which will facilitate the movement of large ships under it. 

Other major infrastructure projects in Bihar:

• During the inauguration, the union minister informed that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved a 4-lane elevated road from Bharauli to Haidaria to provide connectivity to the Poorvanchal expressway. Its DRP will be ready by June 2021.

• The widening of 70 km Mokama-Munger road, for which DPR will be completed by April 2021 has also been approved.

• The approval has been given to the proposal of 4 laning of Khagaria-Purnea road and its DPR will also be ready by April 2021.

• The 4 laning work of Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi-Sonewarsha road, which is also a part of Ramjanki Marg, will further simplify the travel to Jakanpur Dham in Nepal and its DPR will be ready by May 2021.