A Bailey bridge constructed over the Sunkoshi river along Sagarmatha Highway came into operation starting Wednesday.

The bridge connecting Khotang and Udayapur districts has benefited people in the region. The bridge is a major structure along the 52-kilometer Udayapur stretch of the 131 kilometre Gaighat-Diktel road.

Officials of the road project said that inauguration of the bridge has enabled vehicles to ferry people and goods directly from Gaighat to Diktel. In the past, vehicles were not able to provide direct service in the road section due to the lack of permanent bridge over the Sunkoshi river.

Binod Pandey of Shah-Sagarmatha-Indreni JV said it took them around a month to build the bridge over the river. “It took us a long time as the structure was longer than other similar Bailey bridges,” he said. The project, however, is yet to build bridges over many other rivers, including Tuwakhola and Sapsukhola, along the highway.