Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the Sigandur Bridge, India’s second-longest cable stayed bridge, on July 16, 2025, at Shivamogga district in Karnataka. This new bridge is 2.44 km long over the Sharavathi backwaters and will better connect road access between Sagara town and Sigandur, where the famous Chowdeshwari Temple is located.
Major Bridge Brings New Hope
The Sigandur Bridge, at 16 meters wide, cost over ₹470 crores. The road connects Sagara with Marakutika, cutting down travel time, as well as better connecting the local villages and religious places. In the 1960s, local areas lost their road links when the Linganamakki dam was made. This bridge will restore that lifetime link that we had in the area.
At the inauguration, Nitin Gadkari named the bridge after Goddess Chowdeshwari Devi and mentioned it will greatly help the local people and pilgrims going to the temple.
Road Development in Karnataka
Gadkari also noted, Karnataka’s total length of National Highways has gone from 6707 km in 2014 to 9424 km in 2025. The minister added that ₹5 lakh crores in road works will be completed in Karnataka by the end of the government’s term.
Some of the major projects include,
1. Belagavi-Hungund-Raichur corridor to be complete by 2027
3. Hassan-Raichur highway by December 2028
4. Tumkuru-Shivamogga road completed by the end of this year
5. Mysuru-Madakeri four lane road and Chitradurga-Shivamogga roads are to be completed by next year
Plans for National Highways
Nationally, Gadkari has provided information on a few major highway projects, namely:
• The Leh-Ladakh road via Zojila tunnel will open next year
• The Surat-Chennai highway will be completed next year, which will pass through six states
• Cutting distance to Bengaluru by 280 km and to Chennai by 320 km
• Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway is to be completed in the next six months and will cut the duration from eight hours to two
