Zuari Bridge

The new Zuari Bridge is Goa's largest single infrastructure project — a 5.13 km eight-lane cable-stayed bridge across the Zuari river estuary connecting Cortalim (north Goa) to Verna (south Goa). Opened by Prime Minister Modi in December 2022, the bridge replaced the parallel 1986-built four-lane Zuari Bridge that had become a notorious traffic bottleneck on NH-66 (formerly NH-17).

The central cable-stayed span is 320 m — the longest cable-stayed span in India when opened, surpassing the Vidyasagar Setu's 457 m double-cantilever span (Vidyasagar uses two cable-stayed sections of smaller individual spans). The eight-lane carriageway is the widest of any sea-crossing bridge in India. The H-shaped pylons rise 125 m above water level.

Dilip Buildcon executed the construction between 2016 and 2022 at ₹2,484 crore, designed by AECOM with Dar Al-Handasah. The estuary's strong tidal currents and saline environment required specialised marine-grade concrete (M50, w/c <0.40) and stainless-steel rebar for durability. The bridge has 100-year design life.

The new bridge handles ~70,000 vehicles/day at full saturation and includes a separate pedestrian/cycle pathway — a rare feature in Indian highway bridges. It is a key component of NHAI's NH-66 capacity-augmentation along the Konkan coast.