Lalon Shah Bridge facts for kids
The Lalon Shah Bridge is a really important bridge in Bangladesh. It's the second longest bridge in the whole country! This bridge helps connect different parts of Bangladesh, making it easier for people and goods to travel.
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Lalon Shah Bridge: Connecting Bangladesh
This amazing bridge helps connect the northwestern and southwestern parts of Bangladesh. Before the bridge, the mighty Padma River separated these two regions. Now, thanks to the Lalon Shah Bridge, people can travel directly by road.
Building the Bridge
The Lalon Shah Bridge is about 1.8 kilometers (a bit over a mile) long. It was built right next to an older, famous railway bridge called the Hardinge Bridge. Building such a big bridge costs a lot of money! Japan helped Bangladesh pay for it.
The Japanese government, through an organization called JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation), gave Bangladesh a special loan. This loan helped cover most of the costs. The total cost to build the bridge was about US$184 million. JBIC provided a huge part of that, around US$141 million! That's about 80% of the total cost.
Opening Day
The Lalon Shah Bridge was officially opened on May 18, 2004. A special ceremony was held at the bridge site in a place called Paksey. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh at the time, Begum Khaleda Zia, was the main guest. The Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh, Mr. Matsushiro Horiguchi, was also there as a special guest. Many other important people attended the event to celebrate the bridge's opening.
Cool Facts About the Bridge
The Lalon Shah Bridge is not just long; it's also very strong and special! It has some of the deepest concrete piles in the world. These are like giant pillars that go deep into the ground to hold the bridge up. It also has the longest continuous segmental deck in the world. This means the main part of the bridge that cars drive on is made of many sections joined together in a very long, strong way. Engineers used a special method called the "balanced cantilever technique" to build it.
