Coronation Bridge

The Coronation Bridge was constructed by the British to establish a road link from Siliguri to Darjeeling, a key hill station and summer capital of India during colonial rule. The Teesta River’s turbulent flow and the Eastern Himalayan rocky terrain posed significant challenges, making a suspension bridge unfeasible due to monsoon flooding. Three Bengali architects, A.C. Dutt, S.K. Ghosh, and K.P. Roy designed the bridge under John Chambers, the last British executive engineer of the Darjeeling PWD. Construction began in 1937 and took four years, with Messrs J.C. Gammon from Bombay as the contractor. The bridge cost approximately Rs . It was built using a reinforced concrete system. Its…

The Coronation Bridge features a spandrel-arch design, inspired by Roman architecture, with a single 120-meter steel arch supported by concrete piers. The main span of R.C. arch is 81.7 m. Its deck was made of steel girders, which are painted red and white for enhancing its visual appeal against the Teesta’s backdrop. The bridge’s open spandrels and curved deck provide stability against the river’s strong currents and seismic risks in the region. Decorative lion statues, often mistaken as tigers, adorn the Jalpaiguri entrance giving the bridge its local name, Bagh Pool. The design with blending steel and concrete, was considered an engineering marvel in the 1930s. It has a projected…