Pyandzh River Bridge

Afghanistan to Tajikistan

In the remote desert region along the borders of Tajikistan and Afghanistan and above the 400-meter-wide Pyandzh River stands a monument to progress, modernization, cooperation and the future. Made of steel and concrete, the Pyandzh River Bridge opened a trade route stretching more than 1,400 miles from Karachi, Pakistan, to Almaty, Kazahstan, and represents an enormous leap forward for economic stability and improved conditions for the people of the region.

Michael Baker supported the full life-cycle of services that were required to plan, design, and construct to the Pyandzh River Bridge, including providing engineering, design, onsite consulting and construction management for the two-lane, 672-meter-long steel girder bridge with two abutments and 11 concrete piers. Two approach roads, each approximately one kilometer long, were also built on both sides of the river to connect with the existing road network, as well as supporting structures for border control on both the Afghanistan and Tajikistan ends of the bridge. 

Michael Baker provided a broad range of life-cycle services for the project, including reports on visual assessments; summaries to be used by the Army Corps of Engineers’ Transatlantic Programs Center (TAC) in requesting Congressional funding; geotechnical surveys; and boundary surveys for precise alignment of the bridge as part of the initial planning and conceptual design phase.