Bhavnagar has moved its biggest road project in years from approval to tender. An online tender is now out for an overbridge running from Nari Chokdi, the junction where most traffic enters the city, to Vartej, at an estimated cost of about Rs 650 crore, state government spokesperson and Bhavnagar West MLA Jitu Vaghani announced on November 7, a day before Diwali. Sandesh and ETV Bharat Gujarati both report that officials are calling it the largest overbridge in Saurashtra.
Vaghani also confirmed a second structure: a rail overbridge at the Kumbharwada level crossing, approved under the Centre’s Phatak Mukt Bharat drive to replace level crossings with bridges.
From a September approval to a November tender
The Nari Chokdi plan first surfaced in late September, when Gujarat First reported state approval for a new bridge above the existing one at the junction, priced then at over Rs 600 crore, with the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to start the bidding process. Six weeks later the estimate stands at roughly Rs 650 crore and bids are open. Three agencies share the job: the National Highways Authority of India, the state Roads and Buildings Department and the BMC, according to DeshGujarat and Sandesh.
With three agencies involved, each has its own approvals to clear before work starts. None of the reports gives a bid deadline, a length or a completion date, so the tender document will carry the first firm timeline.
Sandesh describes a two-part dual-carriageway layout designed so vehicles can get on and off the bridge without trouble. Officials expect it to ease the knot of traffic at Nari Chokdi and along the road to Vartej.
Kumbharwada already tried an underpass
Kumbharwada is one of Bhavnagar’s industrial and working-class pockets, and residents have struggled with the rail gate since trains started running through it. An underpass built there earlier did not solve the congestion, ETV Bharat reported. Vaghani inspected the crossing with the mayor, deputy mayor, standing committee chairman, ruling party leader and municipal commissioner before the overbridge was finalised.
Construction will start once technical formalities are done, the reports say; neither gives a cost for this bridge. Vadodara went through the same sequence at Alkapuri, where an underpass also proved inadequate and the city later won approval for a Rs 166.5 crore overbridge, as we reported in September.
What Bhavnagar commuters can expect meanwhile
- No construction start date or traffic diversion plan has been announced for Nari Chokdi yet.
- For Kumbharwada, the next public step is the technical clearance and a cost estimate from the BMC and the railways.
- Workers, traders and daily commuters crossing the gate should see time and fuel savings once the bridge opens, officials said, though no opening year has been named.
Sources: Sandesh, ETV Bharat Gujarati, DeshGujarat, Gujarat First
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.