The famous Nine Arches bridge between Badulla and Demodara will be 100 years old this year.
In collaboration with the Culture Ministry, the bridge was gazetted as a National Heritage Site. Uva Province Governor A.J.M.Muzammil said a commemorative stamp will be issued to mark the event.
The bridge is cited as one of the best examples of colonial-era railway construction in the country. The construction of the bridge is generally attributed to a local Ceylonese builder, P. K. Appuhami, in consultation with British engineers.
The chief designer and project manager of the ‘upcountry railway line of Ceylon’ project was D. J. Wimalasurendra, a distinguished engineer and inventor.
The designer of the viaduct was Harold Cuthbert Marwood of Railway Construction Department of Ceylon Government Railway.
The 1923 report titled “Construction of a Concrete Railway Viaduct in Ceylon” published by the Engineering Association of Ceylon has details of all the records including the plans and drawings. Rumour has it that when construction work commenced on the bridge, the Great War began between the empires of Europe and the steel assigned for this site was reallocated to Britain’s War related projects at the battlefront.
