{"id":92178,"date":"2026-03-11T14:52:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=92178"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:59:59","slug":"bascule-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/bascule-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bascule Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Bascule Bridge Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union government recently approved a Rs 117.54 crore project for the renovation of the Bascule Bridge at Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Bascule Bridge<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>type of bridge<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that can be <\/span><b>raised to provide clearance for waterway traffic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and is also referred to as a <\/span><b>lifting bridge or a drawbridge.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It makes <\/span><b>use of a counterweight to balance a span or leaf through its upward trajectory.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>balance of the weight<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is sometimes<\/span><b> adjusted according to the frequency of waterway traffic.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>counterweight <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is <\/span><b>usually heavier than the leaf itself,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which makes lifting easier and reduces the energy needed to operate the bridge.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>span <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can be <\/span><b>single or double,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and in<\/span><b> rare cases<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it may even be<\/span><b> triple or quadruple.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>pulley system helps raise and lower the bridge.\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cables or chains connected to the counterweight run through pulleys and are attached to the leaf.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This mechanical system helps reduce the force needed to lift the leaf, using something called &#8220;mechanical advantage.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>word \u2018bascule<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 is <\/span><b>French in origin <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>translates <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">loosely as a <\/span><b>seesaw or a balancing mechanical device.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is thought that bascule bridges were <\/span><b>first designed during the mediaeval era in Europe, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when they served defensive purposes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><b> longest double-leaf bascule bridge in the world<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the <\/span><b>Broadway Bridge in Portland, Oregon, USA. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devdiscourse.com\/article\/headlines\/3832742-historic-bascule-bridge-at-kolkata-port-set-for-modernisation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DEVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bascule Bridge is a type of bridge that can be raised to provide clearance for waterway traffic and is also referred to as a lifting bridge or a drawbridge. Read more about Bascule Bridge, Location, Features, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":92148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-92178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-prelims-pointers","9":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","10":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92178"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92199,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92178\/revisions\/92199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}