A long wait for the people of Bahraich is finally drawing to a close. The busy Golwaghat stretch, which links the city to the Lucknow highway, is set for a complete makeover. At a cost of around Rs 22 crore, a four-lane road fitted with a divider will be laid from Golwaghat up to Maharana Pratap Chowk, and a brand new bridge will rise at Golwaghat. Since this route is the main artery used by thousands of people every single day, the project stands to benefit a very large population directly.
From British Rule to Today: The Golwaghat Bridge Story
To understand this bridge, one has to travel back to the colonial era. During British rule, in order to connect Lucknow, Barabanki and Bahraich, the British built a wooden bridge at Golwaghat, and traffic moved across it. After Independence, as the population began to swell, the wooden structure made way for a solid pucca bridge. With time, that pucca bridge too grew dilapidated, and a single-line bridge, slightly wider than the old one, was put up beside it.
But the city kept expanding, new neighbourhoods sprang up, and against today's crowds even this current bridge has turned out to be narrow and inadequate. Being a single road, it sees traffic jams almost every other day. Keeping this trouble in mind, the authorities have now decided to construct a 120-metre-long one-way bridge.
Construction to Begin With Rs 22 Crore
The long-running efforts of public representatives and local residents for a four-lane road and a new bridge now appear to be paying off. Bahraich Member of Parliament Anand Kumar Gaud has personally taken up the cause and has instructed officials to carry out the work at a fast pace. It is expected that the paperwork will be wrapped up soon and construction will be pushed ahead quickly.
Relief From Jams, a Lift for Local Trade
The narrow bridge keeps everyday traffic snarled, but the worst of it shows up during festivals like Navratri, Dussehra and immersion days. The bank of the Saryu river lies close by, and along this bank stands the Mari Mata temple, where huge numbers of devotees gather during Navratri and a steady stream of worshippers turns up for the immersion rituals. At such times a large crowd ends up stuck in jams. It is believed that once the divider-fitted one-way bridge and the widened road are ready, all these problems will ease, movement will become smoother, and trade in the area will gain fresh momentum.
