Napier Bridge

Napier Bridge is a bridge in Chennai, India, built over the Coovum River, connecting Fort St. George with the Marina beach. It is also one of the historic structures and landmark of the city.

Napier Bridge
A view of the Napier Bridge from Swami Sivanandha Salai
Coordinates13.0688°N 80.2845°E / 13.0688; 80.2845
Carries6 lanes of traffic and pedestrians
CrossesCooum river
LocaleChennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Characteristics
MaterialConcrete
Longest span138 m (452.8 ft)
History
Construction start1869 (1869)
1999 (1999) (appended)
Location

History

One of the city's oldest bridges, it was built in 1869 by Francis Napier who was the Governor of Madras from 1866 to 1872.

Structure

Alongside the iron bridge built in 1869, a new bridge was built in 1999 with a 10.5 m (34 ft)-wide carriageway on the western side. The eastern side carriageway is 9.75 m (32.0 ft) in width. The bridge is 138 m (453 ft) long with 6 spans (bowstrings) across the river near its mouth.[1] It has 2 m (6 ft 7 in) wide footpaths.

Beautification
Napier Bridge at night
Napier Bridge view from the Coovum River

As part of the Marina Beach beautification project, special lights have been fixed beneath the bridge providing a visual effect as if the bridge is floating on the river water. A combination of lighting effects has been created on the arches and surface using 464 bulbs and fixtures.[2] The lights and fixtures covered the outer arch, inner arch, edge, bottom, road and pedestrian pathways of the bridge. The ₹1.62 crore (equivalent to ₹3.6 crore or US$460,000 in 2023) special lighting arrangement was inaugurated by the then Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. K. Stalin, on 27 July 2010.[3]

The lighting designers for the bridge's new look was awarded to LDP Lighting of Sydney, Australia, who have also designed the lighting for the Erasmus Bridge Rotterdam,[4] Sydney Harbour Bridge,[5] and the Sydney Opera House.[6]

In 2022, the bridge was painted as a chessboard ahead of the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai, India.[7][8] While some commentators liked the artwork, others raised concerns that the pattern was disorienting, especially for people with anxiety disorder.[9] The chessboard pattern also led to traffic congestion as people thronged to the bridge to take selfies and record Instagram Reels.[10]

See also

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Napier Bridge.
  1. "Session-3 River and Drainage System in CMA" (PDF). cmdachennai.gov.in. Retrieved 12 October 2021.[ ]
  2. "Napier Bridge". themadras.in. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  3. "Glowing Napier bridge to float' on Cooum from today". timesofindia. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  4. "IALD LightMap - International Association of Lighting Designers". Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  5. "2008/36/8 Design for 'Our Bridge' lighting proposal". powerhousemuseum.com. 2 February 2017. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  6. Wing, Jimmie (2 February 2009). "Åndrew Tammes - Mondo arc". Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  7. "Watch | Chennai's Napier Bridge decked up like a chessboard days ahead of Olympiad". Hindustan Times. 16 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  8. Vasudevan, Shyam (28 July 2022). "Chennai, India's chess capital, welcomes the world (and Carlsen)". Espn.in. ESPN. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  9. Ashish Ittyerah Joseph; Prakash Swaminathan (22 July 2022). "Chennaiites divided over Napier Bridge's chess makeover for Chess Olympiad 2022". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  10. "Napier Bridge's chequered look causing 'reel' traffic trouble: Cops". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 14 August 2022.


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